Life of Silence
by Karii Lynne
Summary: I haven't seen really any disabled Robin fics, so I decided to try my hand at one. This is the story of a Deaf Robin, starting the journey we all know and love, the story that starts near a place called Southtown.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone. About a year ago I had the idea for this story, and I have recently decided that it may be a good idea to write it. I have noticed that there haven't been any disabled Robin stories out, so I decided I might give a stab at it. So, in this story, Robin is deaf. This is my first fic that I have tried posting, so just tell me if you see any errors in spelling, tense, grammar and anything else. Thank you and enjoy.**

The first thing I know is the grass tickling my ears and cheeks, moving in it's own dance, swaying gently in the wind. The next thing I know is that my back is sore from laying on the ground. I slowly open my eyes, my vision blurry, and see a man with blue hair, and a young blonde girl. The blue haired man offers his hand, and I take it, using it to hoist me off of the ground. I catch a glimpse of my hand, six purple eyes seem to glare at me from the back of my hand. When my vision clears, I see the man's mouth is moving, as if he were speaking, yet no noise, anywhere. The bluenette mouths something, which causes the young blonde to chuckle in response. They notice that I am confused.

The bluenette turns away, facing a third person, a knight by the looks of it. He walks over to his horse, and reveals a pen and a small book, and he hands them to the blue haired man. He writes something, before showing me, _"My name is Chrom, the delicate one is Lissa, and the ever so pleasant knight over there is Frederick. What is your name?"_

What was my name? I concentrate for a few moments, before coming to the conclusion that I had no clue what it was. I shrug.

Lissa says something, and as a response, Chrom shrugs, and Frederick shakes his head. Frederick takes the book from my hands, and the pen from Chrom, and writes a few words before showing me, _"Your story is pegasus dung, you may fool them but you won't trick me."_

I begin screaming in protest, and throw the book at Frederick, who catches it with ease. I don't what I am saying, or even if I'm screaming words, but Chrom puts a hand on my shoulder and mouths something very slowly. I understand two words, calm down. He turns towards Frederick and says something, only to have the book thrust in his stomach. _"Lissa and I believe you, and Frederick is just wary, but we are Shepherds, and we are going to take you into town to make sure that you aren't an enemy of Ylisse."_

As we walk, Chrom walks next to me, book open, pen ready to write, and my mind wanders. _'So, these people are Shepherds, in full armor... I can't say I understand, but whoever they are, they seem to be nice people, even Frederick. I don't think I can blame the guy for being wary of me. I don't know if I'd believe it if I were in their position.'_ I begin to wonder what, or who, Ylisse is, and how could I be a feared enemy of Ylisse if I couldn't even hear. _'Why does Chrom seem so familiar? Did I know him from somewhere, but if I do, then wouldn't he remember me?'_

We walk another few moments, before a thought comes to mind. I smile. I snatch the book and pen from Chrom, who yelps from the theft. _"Robin."_ I write, handing the book back.

Chrom reads it, smiles and writes, _"So, your name is Robin? That sounds foreign."_

I nod vigorously, only to Lissa shaking Chrom's arm, and pointing in the distance. A column of smoke rises from a town. Chrom says something to the Lissa and Frederick, before running forward with them. Once on the hill, he turns back at me, and raises two hands, gesturing me to stay put. Not wanting to be alone, I begin running after them, and feel something hitting my leg as I run. I pull back my cloak, and find a sword on my belt, and a tome in a pocket of the expansive piece of clothing. Ignoring the fact that I had no clue where either of them came from, and how I hadn't noticed them until now, I sprint faster after them.

Immediately when I rejoin them, a group of Brigands attack. Chrom and Frederick merely deflect the axes, while the only thing that kept Lissa from being split in half was the metal case of her dress. Lissa hits the brigand with a staff, despite having a hard time standing. I quickly grab my tome, and search the book for the needed incantation. Yellow glyphs surround me, and I extend my right hand, and a ball of lightning flies from my fingers, hitting the attacker square in the chest. I draw my sword, and jump the last couple feet, and bring my sword down. Frederick and Chrom stand there, mouths hanging from their jaws after seeing me kill the brigand, Frederick recovers quickly, while Chrom remains in a daze for another moment.

Chrom thrusts his sword in the ground, and grabs his book, _"So you can use magic and swords?"_

I shrug.

 _"Any other tricks up your sleeve?"_

I nod, before handing Lissa a vial that fell from her person after being hit. She takes a swig, and gives a small nod and places it in another pouch.

I go down to the ground, and draw a big square. I write the letters, F, L and C at the location that we were. I draw arrows for each of these letters, F and L go north, then east, while C goes east then north. I then point at Chrom's book, and Chrom hands it to me, _"I'm going with you."_ I put the book in one of my many pockets.

The three of them nod, acknowledging the plan, and they leave no complaints. Chrom and I run down the streets of the town. A brigand hears us running and charges, bring his ax down. The blade of the ax collides with the side of my sword, and I'm brought down to my knee. The brigand says mouths something, and laughs. I fear the sword will break, so I close my eyes and prepare for the worst. I wait, nothing. I open my eyes, and see the brigand on the ground in front of me dead, Chrom's blade in the back. I stand up, and look around, and after not seeing any others, I follow Chrom, and head north, and meet up with Frederick and Lissa. When we see Frederick, he motions me over, and I oblige. He pantomimes a book.

I grab the book again, and hand it to him. _"There are three brigands, a mage, and two myrmidons on and on the other side of the bridge, what is your plan?"_

 _"Can you and Chrom take out the myrmidons?"_

He nods, and holds up the number one, and points at the west side of the bridge, and does the same thing for the east side.

 _"Tell Chrom and Lissa the plan."_

Chrom nods, but all Lissa does is stick out her tongue, only to be scolded by Frederick. We each take our positions and I walk onto the middle of the bridge, and get the attention of the mage. I open my tome, and the mage starts their spell. I seen Chrom and Frederick start running. The mage's spell flies at the same moment that my spell launches. My thunder hits him square in the chest, and he falls to the ground, and the wind hits me in the stomach, and sends me flying back a few feet. Lissa runs over, and my the time I am standing, she is holding her staff above her head, and a green light appears above me, and it gets easier to breathe. I sprint back to Chrom and Frederick, and see them both attacking the biggest brigand that I have ever seen. I grab my tome, and cast it, hitting him in the side, Frederick stabs him with his lance a second later, and the brigand fell.

As if on cue, villagers come swarming out of their houses, and begin talking with Chrom and Lissa. Frederick stands there, watching every move of the villagers, and I am sitting here, smiling, waving and nodding. People are coming up to me after talking with Chrom, and begin talking, and instead of making a scene, I nod, and smile. By the end of the mingling, I am about as confused as everyone that came up to me. Chrom took Lissa's hand and dragged her away. Frederick follows, and so do I.

On our way out of the town, Chrom and Frederick talk, and, every few moments Lissa has to interrupt to stop them from fighting. The sun begins to set, and after collecting firewood along the way, we begin to set up camp. I notice Chrom writing something in the book, and closing it. The sun is on the horizon, and Frederick had disappeared, and Chrom hands me the book.

" _The capital of Ylisse, Ylisstol, is about a day's journey away. We are more than happy to simply escort you there, and leave you there, but instead of just being dropped off, would you like to join the Shepherds as our Tactician?"_

I nod, and we shake hands.

 **If you have any criticism, please leave a review. I don't know if I actually want to continue it, but if this gets enough support, I think I will.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Thanks to all of your support, I will continue this story. I will take suggestions for ships, but if I didn't make it clear in the chapter previous, Robin is female, I'm sorry for that confusion. I will consider any ship, whether it is MxM, FxF, or MxF. Two ships that are set in stone are Henry x Sumia and the other one is going to be hinted in this chapter, I just love both of those so much, I can't just not write them. Thank you everyone who has written a review, followed or favourited, I just love seeing those emails litter my inbox. Anywho, thank you for your support, I will try to update as often as I can, but that does not mean that it will be a constant upload schedule. I do not know who Robin will end up with for anyone who is wondering.**

I walk across the recently cleared campsite, and see Frederick feverishly trying to start a fire with kindling that Lissa grabbed. I see a small puff of smoke rise from the wood, and Frederick smiles, creepily.I grab a few rocks, and place them in a circle around the recently made fire, only to be glared at by Frederick. He shoos me away, and repositions them. I back away, and go busy myself with anything else. I roll a large rock over near the fire, and sit down and wait, staring at the orangish yellow fingers envelop themselves around the wood, as it slowly changed from brown, to black and lastly to white. I stare at the fire, and Frederick begins making the fire bigger, and I think he is making it more stable, otherwise wouldn't it just burn itself out? Frederick leaves several times to go get more wood for the fire.

I sit here waiting. It seems strange that they would leave me, someone that they didn't know, alone with their possessions. It also seems strange that they would leave me alone period, unless they didn't care if I happened to die from something happens, but could this also be test of some form, a test of character? What if they are watching me, and waiting? I reason with myself that I just need to remain calm, and I will be fine. The fire begins to dwindle down, almost to a small soldering state. Soon, there is no more light from the fire, only the small glowing pieces of charcoal, and a feeling of despair and dread sets in. _'They've abandoned you, you are alone, and you don't know where anything is, and you will be alone forever.'_ I try to shake this feeling, because I truly believe that they will come back. _'Then where are they?'_ What feels like hours pass, these same thoughts swirling in my mind when I feel something hit the back of my head. I rub the back of my head, I probably made some noise of surprise. I draw my sword, and turn around. I see Lissa with a small pile of rocks, aiming another. She sees my face and laughs so hard she drops her rocks. I sheath my sword, and see her motioning me over, and pointing out into the thicker pieces of the forest.

Lissa grabs my arm and quite literally drags me out into the woods. I walk for a minute or so, and see Chrom and Frederick holding a black thing about the size of Lissa. They point at me, and then at another pile of something near them. I walk over and realize that it was a pile of fire wood. I pick it up, and Lissa grabs the token piece of wood, as if she were under obligation to grab some at least. By the time we make it back to camp, another fire had been made. Frederick steals the wood from my arms, glaring at me. In better light, I see the thing that Chrom and Frederick were holding was a small bear. I wonder what this is going to taste like.

I sit there eating, getting weird looks from Lissa and Frederick, who look at me in disgust. Chrom looks like he is stifling laughs between bites. After we eat, which was only Chrom and I, because Lissa is talking too much and making faces, while Frederick doesn't even touch the bear meat, we all start going to sleep. Frederick sits up straighter, and rubs his face. _'I guess Frederick is going to take first watch'_ , so I fall asleep.

I wake to the but of a lance poking me in the ribs and a worried look on Frederick's face. He tosses my sword and tome next to me as I get up. _'Didn't I have these on my when I went to sleep?'_ I fasten my sword to my waist and place my tome in my pocket, still wondering and questioning if I even knew what happened last night, and Frederick beckons me over, and I follow him follow an unknown and invisible trail. We break through the last of the overgrowth, and I see the most terrifying thing I have ever seen. Hordes of undead... Things... swarming the open area. I see Chrom Lissa and a third person fighting them. I sit there, staring at the two, noticing that their fighting styles are nearly identical, from how gracefully they move, to the precision of their sword strikes. Chrom seems to be more determined, and more forceful with his trikes, while the other one seems to be more agile, and seems to dance while fighting, using acrobatics to their advantage. I must've been staring, as Frederick yanks at my arm to follow.

We make it over to the trio and Frederick looks over Lissa before frowning. He says something that causes Lissa to frown. Chrom pokes my shoulder as the third person runs off. He points to the other zombie figures quite the distance away. I give him a quizzical look. He then grabs his sword, and writes in the ground in big massive thick letters, _"Plan."_

I reply with a nod while Chrom calls the other two over. He says something to Frederick who holds up a finger, and grabs the book from earlier that day and hands it to me. I nod in gratitude before setting to work on a plan. By the time I have the plan completed, the undead have stumbled their way right near and I make it to a fort near us, and I think Chrom and Lissa are where they are supposed to be. The undead continue moving, but seem to be faster than they were before.

' _Crap, I didn't expect that,'_ I think to myself before realizing one of the things was right there. I'm being shoved to the side when I draw my tome, and when it opens, the lance of the the wary knight is through the zombie, and it's starting to dissolve into smoke. I see him scream something out of the corner of my eye. I turn to see another zombie raising an ax. I draw my sword, and plunge it into its stomach. It goes limp, and I pull out my sword. Before it hits the ground it's gone.

I begin turning in a circle to see if any of the undead are around. I see a very formally dressed man get kicked in the face by a woman on a horse. I poke Frederick and point at the two. He merely nods and shoos me away. I run over to the two, and grab my book and write for the two people. I'm thankful that the trees over here are on fire, as that will make it easier for them to read this.

" _I need your names and full cooperation if you want to help a man named Chrom, otherwise I warn you to vacate the area, there are undead things that know their way around a fight."_

The cavalier reads the message first before handing the book to the light blue haired person, and gives me a questionable look. The man begins talking, moving his hand in a dramatic way. The red haired woman begins talking as the man is still talking. I facepalm, and point at my ear and shake my head. I hand the man the pen I forgot to give them. He writes a long passage before handing it to the cavalier, who crosses out some of what he said and writes something herself.

" _Ah, such as poor thing to happen to a woman as fair as you, as I wish I could do something about it. I can only imagine what my voice would sound like to one who has never heard anything as lovely in their life._ _My name is Virion,_ _the Archest of Archers, as I put the arch in archer._ _"_ I briefly close my eyes and shake my head before pointing at him and over where Chrom went. I continue reading, _"The name's Sully, where da ya need me ta go?"_

I point at her, at me then finally back over where I left Frederick to fend for himself. Sully rides off, and I follow, the distance between us widening as each second passes. Soon, all I can do is watch as the last remnants of the battle play out. Frederick is shot in the arm with an arrow, and a few seconds later, the undead archer that hit him is killed by Sully's lance. Several yards over, Chrom is fighting one of the zombie axemen head on. Virion is sniping the undead, shooting them all either in the chest or the head. When I finally make it back to the group, there are no more undead things walking about.

We all start heading back to our campsite when I catch sight of the mystery person that fought like Chrom. I walk over to Chrom and poke him and point over towards the mystery man. He continues to walk over, being followed by Lissa and Frederick, and they begin talking to him. They talk for several minutes before the mystery man turns and leaves. As we walk back, I open my book and write Chrom, _"Who was that?"_

" _His name was Marth, seems like he wanted to be alone, and he refused our offer to join the Shepherds. It was the least I could do since he saved Lissa, and it seems Lissa has developed a little crush on Marth."_

I chuckle and see the rising sun, _"So, off to the capital now?"_

He nods.

The sun is about halfway up in the sky by the time we make it to Ylisstol. Swarms of villagers are filling the massive streets. I stand on my toes to see what could've possibly caused such a crowd. I see a woman with blonde hair talking with the villagers. Since Chrom is talking with Frederick, and Sully was trying to push Virion away, I decide to poke Lissa to ask her a question.

 _"Who is that?"_

 _"Only the Exalt, ruler of Ylisse, and the best big sister in the world."_

 _"So that makes you a princess, correct?"_

 _"Yup, Chrom too,"_ she giggles while writing that.

I snatch the book away from her, immediately writing an apology to Lissa and another to Chrom. I use the words, Sire, Prince, Lord, and every other formality in the apologies as I can without being a Thesaurus. I hand the book to Lissa and point to Chrom. She nods and reads and very soon begins laughing hysterically. Chrom immediately turns around to see Lissa holding the book. He takes it from her, and after a moment, bursts out laughing. He quickly regains his composure, takes Lissa's pen.

 _"We are Shepherds, we just have a lot of metaphorical sheep. And please, don't use formalities, I've never liked being called 'Lord Chrom' and how were you supposed to know I was royalty, no one told you."_

I nod in understanding and continue to follow them when we reach the palace. We walk up the steps of the palace, the guards leer at me, and they seem to whisper among themselves, which causes Chrom to glare at them. Frederick decides to walk behind me, for some reason unknown to me, although I think it's so that he can make sure I don't try to do anything that causes harm to anyone, despite the endless amounts of guards standing there, and the pegasus knights flying above. I feel every eye on me as we walk.

The first thing I notice after walking a few steps into the palace was the mess left behind from my footsteps.I see large tapestries on the walls in a distant hallway, and large portraits of what I presume is royalty, and of the few I can see from where I am, they each have a head of blue hair, all at least close to the same shade as Chrom's. I'm prodded in the back by Frederick and I start moving again. We make it into a room with the Exalt, Lissa and Chrom.

This room consists of a lush white floor, which I feel even worse about ruining by walking there, and a table with several chairs. Chrom pulls a chair out from Lissa and as I'm walking over, motions for me to sit next to him. I put my book on the table, which causes the Exalt to, what my guess is, ask a question due to the look on her face. Chrom speaks to her, and when he is done talking, the Exalt turns to a servant and say something and holds a single index finger to me. Frederick, Lissa and Chrom start conversing with the Exalt, and Lissa hugs her. I feel awkward, not knowing what they are talking about, I feel isolated, alone, as my book was taken away, and the others seem to be engrossed in their conversation, I can't bring myself to attempt to ask for it back. Several moments of them talking passes, and the servant came back with a stack of books, scrolls, and several loose pieces of paper. He places them down on the table, and hands the piece of paper on top, to me.

" _Robin, it seems that you have gained the trust of my brother, he may trust based off instinct, but he is usually right. My name is Emmeryn, and the country of Ylisse owes you a great debt. If want, you may take all these documents to learn the geography, topography, and other possibly useful tactics written from some of the oldest tacticians in the world, and we have a book supposed to have been written by the Tactician Mark, who served the country of Elibe, and namely Lady Lyndis and her Legion. We have a room ready for you, unless you would prefer to stay in the barracks with the rest of the Shepherds. If there is anything else that you need, don't be afraid to ask."_

I flip the page over to check the other side, and flip it back. I see my own tome in the stack, seemingly cleaner than it was. I grab my book and write in response, _"I thank you for your offer to staying in here, but I would prefer to stay in the barracks. I would like to study these and I will try to return them to you when I can, thank you."_

I push the book to Emmeryn, who reads it and smiles. She nods towards Lissa, who beckons me to follow her. I grab the majority of my new library, and Lissa grabs the other, and I follow her out of the palace, and into the barracks.

 **Thank you for reading, I wish you luck on your searching for fanfic endeavours, and hope that you have a good day, morning, night or whatever time of day it is.**

 **Bye**

 **Karii Lynne**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Thank you again for everyone that has read this story. I will not be able to crank these out as fast as I have been, as school is finally deciding, after several years, to give a large amount of homework, so, yeah. Another thing, I've gotten a few reviews about Sign Language. I need to make this clear, I've been learning it for a few years now, and I know that even if you use it constantly, it is hard to learn, and I for one do not know how to describe speaking in Sign, and if I did, the only person that would understand it would be Robin, Validar, and maybe Miriel and more likely Morgan, but that isn't a guarantee. Also, the way I interpret the beginning scenes of Awakening is that, Robin could possibly know every language, but decides to use the game's localized language as that is what the Shepherds use. So, I'm opting out of doing that, as I find it would be very confusing. Once again, if you see any errors, please let me know.**

* * *

Lissa and I manage to open the doors to the barracks, and find an unoccupied room. The room isn't much, merely being a small bookshelf, a desk, chair and a bed with a pillow and blanket, but compared to sleeping outside on the ground, it was perfect. I think back and wonder why I hadn't taken Emmeryn's offer for a room in the palace. _'The place is creepily clean, and so big, I think I'd get lost, or miss something important. Also, wouldn't I need to make it seem like I am just another soldier in the Shepherds? To show that I'm not too good for them. Or was that yet another test to see if I'd mooch off of them. You're starting to sound paranoid. Seriously Robin, they're not all out to get you. Stop thinking that they are just testing you.'_

I stand there, thinking to myself, but once Lissa places the books down on the desk, she runs her hand along the archway of the door, grabbing a key. She inspects it, and places it in the lock and turns it several times before handing it to me. I nod in thanks. She points at the book from earlier, which somehow made it to the bottom of both stacks of books, and beckons me to follow her again. _'I need to figure out a name for that thing, it's possibly the most important thing I own, and I still don't know what to call it. How about the Book of Communication, or maybe the Talk Book, that last one is probably less accurate, The Book of Communication it is.'_ I grab the Book of Communication, and leave. We make it into an open area inside, and I see several people. There was a knight in the corner, no one seemed to notice him and wave, he waves back and smiles. I recognized Sully and Virion in there. I'm about to walk over when a blonde girl walks up to Lissa, and starts yelling. She stops, and they hug, and Lissa points at me and says something to the girl. This causes the girl to give me a look of pity, but a second later, she upturns her nose, but motions me over to a small table with cups, a bowl of white cubes, and a tea pot, presumably filled with tea. She disappears into a room and comes out with a parasol and a new book, that looks like it could show any fingerprints that touched it. Lissa disappears momentarily, and comes back with a third small chair, and another teacup. She moves the top of the table around and places the teacup down and points at me, then at the seat. I sit down and the blonde pours tea for the three of us.

Lissa pours tea for both of us, and hands the teapot to the third girl. I immediately take a sip, and choke on it. Who drinks this, it's the most bitter stuff ever. I grab one of those cubes, and try to figure it out. It feels grainy, and it crumbles when I squeeze it. I grab another, and pop it in my mouth. Sweet it's sugar. I see Lissa laughing, grabbing a few of the sugarcubes in her tea, as does the third girl. I take the bowl, drop half a dozen in my tea, and the rest in my pocket. The third girl stares, shocked, and shakes her head. I sit there drinking tea feeling the third girl's eyes glaring at me.

After she drains her cup, and pours another, she grabs her pristine book and writes something. She holds the open book in front of my face, too far to see what she wrote. I try to grab the book, which results in me getting hit on the top of my head by her parasol, like a dog being it on the head with a scroll. I grab my own book from my pocket, and write, _"I can't read your message from that far away. Plus, it'd be easier if I could just grab the book to read it."_

I place the book on the table, and push it towards the girl. She looks over it, not touching it. She then holds the book out to me, and I try to grab it, but stop, not wanting to be hit again. The blonde nods and I take the book. _"My name is Maribelle. You seem nice enough, but I still don't trust you to not hurt anyone here. And how in Naga's name do you have to have so much sugar in your tea, you ruin it that way, but that just shows how uncultured you are, and your handwriting needs to be clearer. It is hard enough to read writing that isn't cursive, and you need to slow down."_

I nod feeling ashamed for not being good enough, and I finish my tea. I stand up, wave good bye, and start walking to my room. I'm almost there when something grabs me from behind. I'm turned around, only to see a huge man behind me. He grabs me by the coat, and on instinct, I bash my forehead into his nose, and punch him in the gut. He lets go, and I punch him in the face. He staggers, and after recovering charges. I brace myself for being hit, but before the blonde hits, I see the knight that was in the corner run, trying to get between us. But by the time he got there, he can only raise an arm to block the blonde's attack. I smile, and nod in thanks to the knight that was noticed by no one. The blonde's hand buckles, and it looks like it became weirdly shaped. He looks flabbergasted, and mouths something, looking me dead in the eye. I look around the room to find everyone staring at me. I turn around and leave to my new room scared of the new popularity because I don't know if it is good or bad. _'what if I just made an enemy with everyone, but what if... STOP! If they hate you for beating that mean blonde, so be it, if they like you more, congratulations, you just made some friends.'_

I keep the door open a crack, and start organizing my stack of books and maps. I put all the books in the bookshelf, but I hesitate for a moment, before grabbing the book that was fabled to be written by Mark. I sit at my desk and begin reading as I snack on my stolen sugarcubes. _"A technique that was used commonly by Florina, Fiora and Farina was called the Triangle Attack. It can only be used when three individuals share a sibling like bond, and have similar skills. It is tactically not always the best thing to do, but it is efficient in cutting down the enemy strong points, as it traps the victim."_

A while later, I feel someone tapping on my shoulder. I close the book, and put it in one of my pockets. Lissa grabs my hand and pulls me out of my room, and I close the door behind me. I follow Lissa out to where everyone had been earlier. I see a girl with long hair and in a light suit of armor trip over what appears to be a pebble, and faceplant into the ground. Chrom helps her up, much to the girl's embarrassment. Lissa and I are noticed after that, and Sully walks up, pats me on the shoulder, and it looks like she says something to Chrom. Whatever Sully says makes Chrom have a face that is a mix of astonishment, amusement and pride. He puts a hand on my shoulder and laughs. Federick even looks impressed. Chrom turns to Frederick, and Frederick hands me a few pieces of paper. One of them appears to be a roster of the Shepherds. Another one is an envelope, that reads, _"Give this to Miriel, it's very important to get it to her before tomorrow, she should be in the library."_ The third one reads, _"We're marching to Regna Ferox, we need to to go plan a route. We leave at the end of the week, you need to meet everyone."_ The last one is similar to a flyer with a picture of Frederick holding his lance out, pointing it outwards, _"Join Frederick's Exercise Hour. Every Shepherd is required to attend at least once a week. They will be held in the training grounds, every other day before lunch and before dinner. If you plan on using a tome, bow, staff, sword, axe or lance, then you must attend."_

' _This will be fun, but it's just another test... Probably one of loyalty... STOP THINKING EVERYTHING IS A TEST!'_

I flip the flyer over, and find a small note, _'Robin, the next exercise hour is today before dinner, I expect to see you there, and we will test your competency with tomes, swords and a variety of other weapons, and we will see what form of role you will complete as a member of the Shepherds. We have had to accommodate for your inability to hear, as we normally use a bell to alert each next section in the hour. Come prepared.'_

My face blanches, I have to do one of these things, and I have a feeling of dread. I hand the flyer to Lissa, and point to the excerpt. She reads, and after, gives me a look of sympathy. I walk out to find the library. I walk for a while, getting more and more lost when I smell something delicious. I decide to abandon my original task and set forth to fill the empty feeling in my stomach. I find a kitchen, and several benches. There is a man in armour similar to Sully's eating a pie. He sees me walking in, and waves. I wave back, and find a bowl of warm bread rolls. I grab a few, quickly eating one. They smell wonderful, and taste even better. I make note to notice that the man eating the last few bites of the pie has an angered look on his face. I ignore it, taking my rolls to find the library to find someone named Miriel.

After passing several different rooms and hallways, and three rolls later, I find the library. I grab th envelope and wipe the butter of of my hands on my coat. I walk in, and see a woman with a huge hat, sitting in a chair, reading. The only person here, so I presume it is Miriel. I poke her shoulder, and hand her the letter. She opens it, and shoos me away. I leave the library, and she closes the door behind me. I go find my way to the training grounds, figuring that I am either late, or close to the time that I had to be there.

I find my way there a few moments later, I walk through an archway, to see a very mad Frederick. I walk up to him and he shakes his head. He points at a pile of training dummies, and hands me a note. _'Because you are late, very late I might add, you have to set up your own targets for everything.. Drag these across the grounds, over to the place with the stands for these. A small group of us will watch you to see what we will trust you with, You must prove yourself competent with one weapon of your choice at least. You then will spar with Milord to see if you are good enough to help protect him.'_ I then began dragging each of the dummies over.

Several moments later, and what feels like hours, I have all ten og the dummies over, and three of them set up. As I move them I judge how heavy they are, my guess is between eighty and a hundred pounds. I'm exhausted and sweat is beading up on my forehead. frederick hands me another letter and a tome. _'Robin, round one is Tomes, this is a Wind Tome, so you don't completely destroy the dummies. Only use this ten times, then you will receive your next instructions.'_ I open the wind tome, and sling the spells at the first dummy, after the first three spells, the dummy is back where I had grabbed the pile of them. I set down the wind tome, and set up another dummy, but when I return, a bow and quiver of arrows are sitting there with another note. _'Good job, now to try your hand at archery, same procedure.'_ I start, each arrow narrowly missing the dummy. I return the bow and quiver to Frederick, who looks a bit disappointed. He takes the weapon and hands me another letter. _'Now for your sparring sessions.'_

The following sparring sessions are very similar to each other, only showing promise with lances and swords. I'm exhausted at the end, hardly able to lift the axe I have to use. I finish with the last of them, Frederick hands me one last letter. _'Congratulations Robin, you will now be allowed to use Tomes and Swords. This should be a tactical option, as well as something that is more comfortable for you to learn. Now go eat dinner and I suggest going to bed, we have training in the morning.'_ I shuffle my feet along the ground, fighting the urge to lay down on the ground and sleep right there. I make my way back to the mess hall, pain in my every step. The food, which appears to be a soup of some kind, along with bread similar to the ones I ate earlier. They smell great, but taste terrible. I gag down my food, everyone appears to be laughing at me as I eat. _'Is this some practical joke, or are they just laughing at me for some other reason?'_ As I stand up to put away my plate, I see that the only person not laughing is Sully. I shrug this off, and make my way back to my room, and I collapse on my bed.

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 **Also, to those who have been saying Chrom x Robin, that is not happening. I was trying to hint at Chrom's wife when describing "Marth's" fighting style. I once again for any confusion that may have been a product of that. Well, read and have a good morning, day, afternoon, night or whatever time it is wherever you live.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Well, this is mostly a fluff chapter. Fear not, as the next chapter will be more constructive to the story. This one is just some stuff that I wanted to add to the last chapter and next chapter, but it would've been too long for both of them, so I decided to just make it a separate one. I should have the next chapter out by the weekend, maybe a little earlier if school doesn't get in that way.**

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I rouse from my sleep to the smell of tea, butter and bread. I sit up, and wipe the sleep from my face, everything extremely sore from the day before, I keep my eyes close, as I want to retain the last bit of soothing darkness before light pierces my vision. I swing my feet around over my bed, I feel my back pop several times. I slowly open my eyes, much to their protest, they ache, wishing to stay closed, and my body craves more sleep. The first thing I see is that on my desk a tray of food, a cup of tea, and a perfectly stack of seven sugarcubes. The next I see is a smiling Lissa, waving her arms around trying to, what my guess is, get my attention. The third thing I see is a very mad Frederick, arms crossed and a look on his face that made me want to cower and hide under my blanket. He seems to acknowledge my fear, and leaves the room after saying something to Lissa. Lissa frowns before grabbing a note off of the meal tray. She hands it to me, _'You were late for training and breakfast, so get up, eat, and find your way to the training grounds, you need to be at peak efficiency before we embark tomorrow.'_

 _'Well, if you wanted us at peak efficiency, wouldn't you let us have a day of rest, to help being sore instead of making it worse?'_ I think, before thinking about how much I've had to do the last four days. Day one was introduction day, where I formally met every member of the Shepherds and trained during one of Frederick's Hours of Pure Exercise, which I had to repeat for not doing enough in the hour. Day two was training my magic with Miriel, followed with training my swordplay with Stahl, who ironically seemed to be stalling the last half of training that was before lunch. Day three was spent with another training session with Frederick and a few of the other Shepherds, and cooking, which was not physically taxing, but caused me to sweat more than all the training sessions combined. Day four was spent studying tactics, wondering how it could get so hot in the kitchen, and sparring with Sully, who can kick really hard as I learned fairly quickly. Now it's today, which means another training session with Frederick and possibly, most likely, even more. Maribelle had alerted me that today I had to help Chrom and Frederick with something else, but I can't remember what. I quickly finish my breakfast before facing my pending doom.

I walk out to the training grounds, expecting to see a very mad Frederick with a list of exercises for me to manage to complete in an hour, but instead, I see a table and a few chairs around it, with maps and books on it. Chrom and Frederick seem to be completely focused in their conversation. I slowly walk forward, and Chrom sees me sneaking up on them. The both of them immediately stop talking and stare at me. _'Were they talking about me behind my back, no, no that can't be, they are probably having some secret discussion, that they just have to stop, probably because the least likely person to share this secret conversation had walked in on. Gah! Stop thinking as if you're paranoid! There is not a conspiracy that everyone is either talking behind your back, or testing you! It's getting out of hand.'_ I shake these thoughts from my head and see Chrom motioning me to walk over.I take a seat, and grab the Book of Communication out of my pocket. I have decided on having it on me at all times, even when I sleep as I don't want it stolen, which is my paranoia talking again. Chrom starts pointing at a passage from the approximate location of us, and to the country to the north, Regna Ferox. He slides a note over, _'"Is that a smart route, or is there a smarter one that you would suggest?"_

I look over his route again, it seems straightforward enough, infact, it was an extremely straight line, going over mountains and down canyons. I turn to face him, and shake my head. I point out an alternate path, which goes around most of the natural landmarks, but looks about twice as long as Chrom's path, but it would probably be safer, as it passes through a few villages which we could restock supplies in. I open my book to a clean page, _"Chrom, are you serious? That is not a smart route, if you wanted to test me, just do that instead of making a clearly idiotic route."_ I slide the message over so both Chrom and Frederick can read it. Frederick looks impressed, and looks at Chrom and nods. Chrom smiles and nods in return. Chrom writes back, _"Good, you passed that test, I congratulate you. Our last tactician got fired because they never took initiative to change a clearly stupid decision made my the one in charge. Now, you are sparring with your good old friend Vaike until lunch."_ My face drops from its smiling self, to a look of astonishment and terror. Two things caught me off guard, _'I actually am being tested, and I have to spar with my good enemy Vaike, who is still furious with me for my first impression.'_ I slam my head into the table, gaining me questionable looks from Chrom and Frederick.

 _"Something that every tactician must keep in mind is something called the Weapon Triangle, Lances and Spears have superior range to Swords, and typically, a sword user's armor is ill defended from piercing attacks, yet Lances and Spears are inferior to Axes, as Axes have enough weight to easily cut them in two. Swords are very light, thus being superior to the heavy axes, allowing the attacker to be nimble and agile. Axes, the choice weapon of bandits, are heavy, but this weight is useful when attacking. Weapons such as Tomes and Bows have seemed to be excluded from a triangle of any form. This Triangle is a basic in all tactical decisions, yet do not believe for a single second the just because you send a Mercenary into a group of Bandits that they will survive the encounter. Always remember to have backup for every unit you send in, and always keep a healer within eye sight of every unit."_ I read from the book on tactics before my sparring session. _'So, Robin, you have the tactical advantage over Vaike, keep that in mind, but remember, Vaike may be a little slow, in more ways than one, but he is a wall. I vaugely remember Frederick having a hard time beating him.'_ I see Stahl falling to the ground, Sully's Lance at his throat. I see her help him my, and Virion take up a sword against Frederick. I shake my head, _'Crap! I only have ten seconds to figure out how to beat Vaike!'_ I feel around my pockets and realize I have a Wind tome and my sword. I smile as I make a neat stack of my Thunder, Book of Communication and my book on tactics next to me. The second I set the books down, Virion flies towards the wall. I stifle a laugh, because Frederick didn't even break a sweat. I see him motion motion me over, and I comply. I hold my tome in my sleeve, unable to be seen due to the extremely long arms of my cloak, and my training sword in my other hand.

I stand there for a moment, waiting. I see Vaike stand from his seat. He walks up, and says something. I see Sully, Frederick, Kellam and Stahl wince as he talks, while Lissa, Maribelle, Miriel, Virion and Chrom hold their ears and Lissa nearly falls over from losing her balance. Vaike grabs one of the practice axes, and immediately swings it at me. I nimbly dodge the attack, and five in, hitting him in his exposed stomach with my sword. This is registered as a small flinch and a knee in the gut. I stagger back, clenching my stomach, I realize that my time is still in my sleeve. I give a small smile. Vaike attacks again, he barely grazes me as I walk backwards. After a while, I find myself behind Vaike. I cast my still unknown Wind tome at the same time as I sweep my sword at his legs. He bends over backwards, and he slams back into the ground. I hold the top of my sword to his throat before Frederick taps me on the shoulder. Sully walks up, and slaps my back a few times. The force made by the slaps causes me to drop both my sword and my tome. _'Crap! Crap, crap, crap...'_ I stand there, stareing at the tome. I grab it along with the sword, and look around. Vaike looks like he is complaining. Sully gives me a thumbs up, and Frederick shrugs off Vaike and nods towards me. I drop off my sword with the other training weapons, and place my Wind tome in my pocket. I walk back to my seat, finding my Thunder tome there. I place that in my pocket along with my Wind one, and I see the tactics book being the only one left. ' _Where, where is The Book of Communication?'_ I have no time to giggle about the title I gave it. I look on the ground, and all around. _'I just had it, but what if... Stop! They didn't, they wouldn't so stop thinking that.'_ I sit back down, looking around, seeing if it was on anyone. Vaike was still arguing with Frederick, Kellam looked like he was in conversation with Chrom and Lissa, Miriel had probably left to the library, and Stahl to the mess hall. Sully was somewhere else, and I hadn't seen Sumia for a few days. I give one last look around, and don't find it, so I decide to leave to the library.

I make my way into the library, the smell of old books filling my nose. The smell calmed my rattled nerves. I walk back into the back corner of the expansive area, a place that can see the opening, and not be easily noticed by anyone walking in. I keep one eye on the door, the other eye reading something about how Wing magic was a death sentence for fliers due to the wind being a strong enough force to cause the pegasus or wyvern due to changing wind currents around them in such a chaotic manner that they have no choice but to either shrug off their rider, or to crash into the ground. I am about to begin the passage on why bows cause devastation to flying units when I see Miriel walk in, holding the Book of Communication.

Miriel looks around before she sits down at one of the desks, opens it and starts reading. I clench my jaw and fist, I want to steal the book back, but something tells me not to. _'Don't jump out there to get your stupid book. In the grand scheme of things, that book is irrelevant, as you will betray the Shepherds, and join me instead. No, they're just doing something for research, kinda like they intentionally set up a stupid route for marching to Regna Ferox, right?'_ That dark, negative voice in my head continues to say things that make me want to hide, and never talk with these people again. Miriel soon finishes reading, she writes something on a page, my guess is that it was the last page with writing on it, and she leaves. I wait a moment before standing up to follow her. I lightly jog after Miriel, staying quite a distance away. I follow her down past the mess hall, and through the initial room of the barracks. Miriel walks walks down the hallway that the girl's rooms reside. She knocks on one of the doors, before twisting the knob, opening the door and walking in. She is only in there for a minute before walking out. She goes down the hallway opposite side of the one I was looking down. I walk down, and find out it was my room she was in. _'It's not what you think.'_ I tell myself before opening my door seeing the Book of Communication on my desk and a note on top of it. I walk over and read the note, _'Robin, many would be in consensus with me when I inform you that, your abilities at stealth are dismal. I recall Vaike saying you make the sound of a wyvern crashing into the residence of a commoner. It is also agreed upon that these acts of stealth of yours are impolite and frankly offencive. We wish you to not continue sneaking around others. Miriel and all of the Shepherds.'_ Had I really been sneaking around here? I recall the instance just now, and a few instances in the middle of the night when I snuck into the kitchen to get more food. Did that really offend them that badly? I set the note down back on the desk, and quickly open up the Book of Communication to the last page, seeing what Miriel had written. _'Robin, I apologize for stealing your one reliable form of communication with the rest of the Shepherds. I was instructed to take this book from you without your knowledge by Sir Frederick and Lord Chrom, as a form of, what they call, a "Background Check" which I understood to be a way to verify who you are, and that you aren't lying to us. I personally believed this book to be a diary of sorts, which I brought up to Frederick, who then ordered me to take it. I hope you understand that it was not a malicious act performed by me to invoke fear and anger in you. I apologize again for the inconvenience. Miriel.'_

I quickly grab a loose piece of paper and write an apology. I walk out of my room and try to find Miriel to give to her. Because I don't know which room is hers, I walk back towards the library. I pass by the mess hall again to see almost everyone in there. I, letter still in hand, walk through the door. I look around, and I see Miriel talking with Chrom and Frederick. Her face remains the plain serious face as it always was. Frederick and Chrom's faces had a small look of worry and maybe a little disbelief. I walk up, hand the apology to Miriel, and go grab myself some food. As it became apparent after my first bite was that Sully cooked tonight. The soup tasted like burned, bland scones and the rolls tasted like leather, and the meat, whatever it was, tasted like dishwater. I don't know how that is possible, but it seems Sully's skill at cooking is bad enough the terrible tastes somehow change and swap with each other. _'Virion, Stahl or Maribelle really needs to teach Sully how to cook, even Lissa knows how to cook, despite being one of the youngest of the Shepherds.'_ I manage to get my food down, and I make my way to leave, seeing Chrom smiling at me along with Frederick. I run into Miriel on my way out. She hands me a note, it only has two words on it, not in her handwriting, _"You passed.'_ That voice in my head tells me that there is still something up with that, but I push it aside. I make my way to my room, and close the door.

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 **Thank you for reading, and don't be afraid to either PM me or write a review if you have a question about this story. Have a good Morning, day, afternoon, night or whatever time it is.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I apologize for the later update today, I kept getting interrupted with school work. Anyways, I liked writing this chapter as it has Robin's first Support "Conversation" other than that, it is a transition chapter like how the chapter in that game was, merely being filler. Enjoy.**

I wake up to somebody poking me in the back with something fast and small. I roll over, off of my bed, to see a blur of yellow. I rub my eyes to clear my vision. I see Lissa holding her staff. I stand up and grab my sword from where my desk is and fasten it to my belt. I grab my tomes as well, and the Book of Communication, and place them in a few of my pockets. Lissa grabs my arm and drags me out of my room as I grab my book on tactics. Outside I see Sumia with what looks like pieces of pie on her face. I give her a questioning look, and she just shakes her head. Lissa drags me to the mess hall, and food is on a plate with a piece of paper that has my name. I eat quickly, thankful that Sully did not cook this morning. When I'm done, Lissa drags me once again out of the barracks. It's still dark outside, stars shining brightly. There's dew on the grass and a slight chill in the breeze. We pass by Kellam, who hand me two canteens. I nod in thanks, and I try to hand one to Lissa but realize she has some of her own. I briefly take off my cloak, and slung them over my shower before replacing the cloak. The air outside leaves small bumps on my arms. Loss stakes me to a large room filled with miscellaneous supplies. She walks in and grabs a bundle of some fabric tooling stuff, and hand it to me. She then walks to a wooden cart with a canopy over the top, and takes the bundle from me, and places it in. She walks straight back to the main barracks and walks to the other side. We walk closer, and I see Vaike, Chrom, Frederick, Sully, Sumia, Virion and Kellam all back there. Frederick has a piece of paper that he hands me along with his pen. _"Do you have your tent? If that's what Lissa handed me, then yes. Do you have at least two canteens of water? Yes. Did you eat? Yes. Do you have your weapons? Yes."_ He nods after reading the paper. He hands the paper to Chrom, who has a small stack of similar looking papers. He rolls them up, walks over to Frederick's horse, and deposits them in a satchel. He turns to the other Shepherds and says something, and we begin marching to Regna Ferox.

The sun was halfway through the sky when we stopped first. I look constantly between the horizon, and the other Shepherds. Someone pokes my shoulder, and I see Chrom standing there, note in hand. He gives it to me, _'We are taking a short break as a certain member of our group is complaining about their feet hurting, and they have been for the last few hours.'_ I nod, immediately knowing Lissa was to thank for stopping all of us. I uncork one of my canteens, drinking the now warm water. I turn around and join the others. I see Stahl dismounting his horse, sweat dripping off his face. _'Is he really that worn out from that? Even Lissa hasn't broken a sweat.'_ He looks guilty of something, as Frederick talks to him. I shrug it off, figuring that if it doesn't involve me, then I shouldn't worry about it. I turn around and look in the distance. _'Oh crap, they're here again.'_ I immediately grab the Book of Communication, opening it to an arbitrary blank page, writing, _"Chrom, those undead things are here again, I need you to get everyone's attention."_ I thrust the book at Chrom, who reads it with a worried look on his face. _"Do you have a plan for fighting the Risen?"_ Risen, is that the name of these things, doesn't matter. I nod in response, pointing at the now responsive Shepherds. _"Tell Lissa that she must stay within sight of everyone else, and tell Frederick to stay with her."_ Chrom nods and my guess is that he relayed the message. I see Vaike run up to Chrom, being the only one without his weapon, and he tells Chrom something. Chrom slams his forehead into his palm, shooing him away. _"Take Virion with you and head into the forest, and tell Sully and Stahl to head to the hills on the opposite side."_ He nods before leaving.

I find Kellam, who I accidentally forgot about while coming up with the strategy, and point at him, and into the thick of the Risen infested landscape. I follow Kellam, slinging both wind and thunder strikes at the Risen, Kellam proved himself a great fighter, and an even better shield. On more than one occasion, he took a hit that was well on its way to hit me. I give a curt know whenever this happens. A Risen axeman seems to appear out of nowhere as I draw my sword. Kellam is preoccupied with a Risen lancer. The axeman seems to attack similarly to how Vaike does. I smile, _'This'll be easy.'_ I try to cast Wind at it, but it doesn't work. Panic sets in. _'Crap!'_ I try to use Thunder, and it wields the same results. I discard the useless tomes, and bring my sword up to guard. The Risen's axe blade slams into the flat of my sword, sending a spiderweb of cracks through the sword's blade. Every known curse word goes through my head, in a random order, unable to be thoroughly thought out. I slash at the Risen, the blade cutting into its flesh extremely deep, and the sword breaks. I vaguely see the Risen smile. It raises its axe one final time.

I blink once. Twice. A third time. When my eyes open, the Risen is dissolving into ash, burned undead flesh in the same area that an arrow pierced the Risen. I turn around and see Virion lowering his bow, and Miriel closing her book. I smile, nodding a thanks to the both of them. Chrom looks surprised, as do most of the other Shepherds besides Kellam, who has managed to make it behind all of the others. I grab the Book of Communication and write, _"Is there a blacksmith somewhere close to here? I have a feeling I need a new sword."_ I hand the book to Chrom, who in turn, laughs and nods. We resume our course, with a single detour.

Walking several hours with some people you hardly know, with no way to protect yourself is a very nerve racking experience. _'Steal one of their swords and run off, that way they won't follow you. Better yet, steal a sword and kill them off now, that way they can't follow you. They're just going to attack you when you're defenceless, which you are now. Run when you have the chance. Head to Plegia. They are trying to declare war with Ylisse and what can a pacifist and a band of warriors do against an entire army that never ends? Take your chance.'_ Thoughts of being betrayed and killed swarm my thoughts, making it hard for me to rest when we set up camp. I opt to sleep in the open, as the tent would just be a hassle, and the weather was bearable. Frederick starts a fire, using my now useless tomes to start the fire. I sleep next to the fire, only ever sleeping for a few minutes at a time. Dawn approaches slowly, as I completely wake up. I smell something cooking through the smell of fire and smoke. I make my way to the mess tent, makeshift mess hall, whatever you call it. I walk in, seeing that Sully was once again cooking. I walk up to her, and notice that she has thankfully hasn't started cooking yet. I grab out the Book of Communication, _"Do you mind if I help you cook this morning?"_ She takes the book and squints, holding the book close enough to her face that her nose a close to touching the paper. She simply replies with a nod. I leave my cloak on one of the tables, tying my hair further back out of the way.

Sully begins cooking meat in a metal pot. I smell the meat get close to being done, and Sully does nothing with it. I look in the pot, the meat is near burning. I yank the pot out of the heat, and move it onto a wooden plate. Sully shows some protest, but I don't care. I hand her a box of potatoes and a knife as I begin peeling and cubing onions. I'm nearly halfway done when I look over again and see the potatoes cut into inconsistent shapes with dirt and skin still on them. _'I finally understand why Sully's soup tastes like dishwater,'_ I think to myself as I steal the knife from Sully, and peel off the skin of the potatoes and cut them into uniform, bite sized cubes. I rinse them in cool water, cleaning the dirt off of them and place them in a pot with more water and place that over the heat. I resume cutting the onions. I see Sully sitting, watching me. I ignore it, working towards making this food palatable. In a separate bowl, I mix flour water salt and other seasonings into a gravy of sorts. I drain the water from the potatoes, add the meat and onions and mix it all together, making a brown concoction in the pot. The smell is decent if I say so myself. I write in the book and hand it to Sully, _"Let that get hot throughout, and just stir it so it doesn't burn, do not add anything else. Remember that for next time."_ Sully reads that message, and nods, smiling. I wave goodbye and put on my cloak and walk around camp. A while later, I walk back into the mess tent to see Kellam, Frederick and Sumia all happily eating. They all talk to Sully, who is serving everyone. Sully shakes her head at them, and they nod. She sees me, and prepares a bowl of food, which I eat. Making my stomach warm after eating. When I finish eating I walk out, and see that the camp was mostly packed up, only the mess tent being the last one to dismantle. I walk away.

Everything is packed up in the convoy when we disembark again. About an hour passes before anything happens. Chrom points into a plain with has a majestic white steed, looking like it is pain. Upon further inspection, it appears to be a pegasus. He walks up to the pegasus, which stands on its hind legs, pedaling its front legs in a motion, trying to attack Chrom. Sumia walks up, falls over her own two feet, and stands up again. She walks up to the pegasus, and pets it, calming it down instantly. Chrom says something, and Sully takes Stahl's lance, and hands it to Sumia. We wave goodbye, and continue on our course.

A few hours later, I see a small town on the horizon. Chrom tosses me a pouch. I catch it with ease, I untie it, looking inside. I reveal a small note and several small stacks of shiny gold coins. I pull out the note between my index and middle fingers, as the opening is too small to fit my entire hand, and I read the note, _"This is money for two things, one, a new sword and tome as well as your payment for being a member of the Shepherds."_ I nod in thanks, attaching the coinpurse to my belt. Not half an hour passes before our convoy is parked outside of the town, Frederick and Stahl guarding it from potential thieves. Sully follows my every movement after speaking with Chrom. Miriel walks off, I know not where, Chrom stays with Vaike and Lissa, and Kellam, well I don't know where Kellam went, he could still be at the convoy. I find my way to the blacksmith from the amount of smoke in the air.

I walk in through the front door, I see a man behind the counter, I wave, heading towards the assortment of weapons along the walls and tables. I look around and see that Sully had started conversation with the blacksmith. I browse the swords, when I see one. The blade is black, darker night. Its point is rounded, and the sides of the blade near the top come to to symmetrical points. It looks perfect. I wave to get the attention of Sully and the blacksmith. They walk over, and I point at the sword. The blacksmith says something, and Sully replies. The blacksmith frowns and shakes his head, walking over to another section of the shop, grabbing a sword that looks extremely unreliable and weak. It looks quite useless. I shake my head pointing at the nice black one. I grab the Book of Communication out and write to Sully, _"Tell him I want this one, not that pathetic sword that couldn't beat Virion."_ Sully takes the book and pen and talks to the blacksmith. She writes something down during their conversation. They cease talking and Sully hands the book back to me. _"He agreed ta let ya have that sword for only a few gold if ya can beat him in a game called Chess. He says that he hasn't been beat in years. If ya lose, ya have to take his suggestion. I know it seems strange for a weapons purchase, but it was either that or an arm wrestle, which I doubt ya woulda been able to beat him. Your choice though."_ I read the message over a few times, it is a strange request for a purchase indeed. I walk up to him and shake his hand. He walks over and clears off a section of table, and grabs a chess board from behind his counter, setting up the board, black being my side. _'Yes, black, the best of the colors behind purple, the soothing color.'_ I smile darkly.

The chess board is labeled on the sides, a stone pallet consisting of the darkest black and the brightest white. The pieces look used, and fading. The blacksmith moves his pawn the third from my left forward two spaces, to f4. I move my king's pawn forward a single space, to e6. He responds by moving his pawn that is the second from his left two spaces, to g4. I smile again, moving my queen down four spaces and to my left four spaces, to h4. The blacksmith frowns, unable to move any piece to protect his king from being killed. He cleans up the board and puts it away, grabbing the sword I won and handing it to me. I grab a small stack of coins and hand them to him. He takes the gold as he hands the sword to me. I grab it in my hand, dropping a little from the weight, which I get used to quickly. He cuts the stack in half, handing me the other half of the gold. I smile, depositing it in my coin purse, and I get the sheath for the sword. The sheath is labeled _"Armorslayer"._ I attach it to my belt, walking out of the building. I grab my book out and ask Sully, _"So, how much was this sword originally. and why did he keep trying to get me to buy that wimpy sword?"_ I hand the book to her and she writes, _"He wanted several hundred gold, and he kept insisting that ya were too weak, and that it was too heavy for ya."_ I smile and shrug it off. I meet Chrom again, who was with the others. He smiles, and motions me over, and hands me a note, _"So, did you manage to get a new sword, or did Sully intimidate the poor man out of commission?"_ I laugh and shake my head. I show him Armorslayer. His eyes widen. He nods and I smile. We rejoin with the convoy, and resume our journey again.

 **I was happy to use my chess knowledge in this chapter, and I know that negotiation was weird and unusual, but I was thinking that, make it something fair that either of them could win, and still be reasonable. I figured that the blacksmith only had himself that was skilled in the game, and so he tries to get every visitor to do so, and he came across the misfortune of challenging Robin. I also added Kellam in this chapter because I looked over the map before writing the fight scene, and noticed that the center of the map was fairly empty, letting a leveled up Robin take it out easily. I thought it weird that because Kellam traveled to Regna Ferox with them, that he probably helped a bit with fighting that level, but because he is invisible to almost everyone, he went unnoticed. Anywho, have a good morning, afternoon, evening or night.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: This was probably my favorite chapter to write. I don't want to spoil anything so, enjoy.**

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Several days pass. Days of walking, reading, and walking more. I occupy my thoughts with new ideas for strategic maneuvers, while my paranoid only occasionally pierce my thoughts like an arrow. A nagging feeling resides in my mind when I shake off these thoughts, I do my best to ignore them. The snow is now up to my ankles, making walking slightly more taxing. The occasional horde of Risen are fought along the way. We make our way to the Ylisse-Ferox border, which is guarded by a massive wall. Lissa stands behind Frederick's horse, and I stand to the side near Kellam. The snow and wind make it hard to see, and I am chilled to the bone. I stand waiting, getting colder by the second, when I see arrows and javelins lying down. I turn and try to run, but I slip and fall on my back. The wind gets knocked out of me and a moment later, I open my eyes and pick myself up, seeing that the projectiles would've hit me if I hadn't fallen. I notice Chrom disappeared shortly after the weapons started flying. I walk over to the convoy, and I see Chrom talking with someone atop a pegasus. The mount's head is in the way of my vision, so I walk closer. I notice long hair, no color is sight as the snow clung to it. Sumia. She looks comfortable aboard the pegasus, as if that was what she was meant to do all her life. She sees me approach, and waves. I smile back and wave. Chrom comes around and motions me to the convoy. I walk over and grabs an empty book from underneath some cloth. He writes, _"We have locations of the Feroxi Guard. We are going to try to stop them without killing all of them at least. They invoked the challenge, so don't think I declared war without informing our tactician. I want you to create a plan and stay here until it is safe, I saw you fall and you keep making a noise of pain when you walk. I believe you should, of all people understand the tactical choice in this."_ I frown, I feel like I should help fight, yet I have no desire to be a hindrance. I contemplate the good and bad things that can come out of this. Death being the only bad thing, whether it was of myself or another Shepherd, and the good things that could come out of not fighting seemed to be more favorable. I nod towards Chrom before writing him, _"And about the tactical information, where is that?"_ He smiles before getting Sumia.

After getting the locations of the Feroxi guard from Sumia, I devised a plan. Frederick would create a chokepoint at one of the doors, causing the Feroxi to get through him, while Lissa stays close to him to heal him when need be. Stahl, Sully, Vaike and Miriel were to head to the other door, and take out the guards from the other end. After the area was secure, Sumia would be to take Chrom and he would try to talk reason to the commander, who I reasoned to be the one at the main gate. If talking failed, Sumia was to drop Chrom closeby, and he would literally beat some sense into the commander. Chrom nods before giving the orders.

I soon learn that waiting is much worse than fighting myself. Each agonizing moment passes slowly, every negative scenario goes through my head, telling me every way that this plan could fail. The only good thing that happens is that Kellam was standing in front of Chrom, and a few moments later he jumps, scared. Another moment passes and Kellam starts heading back over to the convoy with me. He seemed sadden, making a very dramatic sigh before standing next to me. He makes no effort to communicate, nor do I. I resist the urge to start reading, but I also don't want any book to be ruined from the snow, or stand uncomfortably to keep it under the canopy of the convoy. More moments of contemplation pass, _'You see, you're completely useless and a liability, You are useless when something as simple as snow can cause someone to be so pointless. They don't need you, so why stay? Anyone else would be more than happy to have someone as, intelligent, as you. The invisible knight wouldn't be able to alert the others, as no one would see. Tick tock, tick tock.'_ I scream internally, trying to drown out my thoughts. I look around and see that Chrom was no longer waiting, and was no longer in sight. Roughly half an hour passes before I see Sumia landing in front of me. She pats on the back of the saddle, where there is enough room for another person. SHe motions me over, and helps me up.

Within the next few moments I learn a few things. First, I don't think I would be able to fly successfully. I see Sumia constantly looking over her shoulders, looking around, scanning the skies while still commanding her pegasus effortlessly. Second, flying is amazing. Despite being with someone that I don't know very well, it provides a sense of freedom that I haven't been able to experience in any of my memories, consisting of being with the Shepherds. I wonder for a moment if it would be possible for me to learn to be a Pegasus Knight, or maybe even a Falcon Knight. I had been reading about them, using Lances and Swords in battle, being true warriors of the skies. I'll make it a point to ask someone about that. Before I can fully comprehend flying, we land, and I see Chrom motioning us over. I dismount ungracefully, staggering to catch my footing. Sumia giggles as Chrom laughs. My face heats in embarrassment, maybe I'll scratch asking about becoming a Pegasus Knight off the list, and just ask if Falcon Knights are as awesome as they are in the Elibian and Manvelian tales I've read about.

I walk along side Chrom into the Feroxi Castle. The walls are covered with different weapons of war mounted on the walls, and suits of armor at each support column. I remember Chrom informing me before we had made it to the border that the Feroxi believe actions speak better than words, and that the country is split between the East and the West. We are to meet the East Khan. I imagine the Khan being a massive man, being a head taller than Vaike, chest covered in hair. I am extremely mistaken. The Khan is revealed to be a tall blonde woman. I decide to walk over and admire the decorations on the wall. Several moments pass before I'm being poked in the shoulder, a feeling that is all too familiar. I turn to see the same concerned look Chrom gives me every time he has to get my attention that way. I grab the Book of Communication out of my cloak and write, _"What do you need?"_ I hand the book to Chrom. _"This is the East Khan Flavia, I believe it would be polite if you were to introduce yourself."_ I sigh, writing my name on the next clean sheet of paper, and hand it to Flavia with my pen. Flavia writes something before handing me the book with my pen. The handwriting is fairly hard to read, but I eventually decipher it, _"I can't say I've met a deaf soldier before, but from what Chrom has told me, that hasn't been a hindrance on any of the parties involved. I doubt it would be easy to live with your disability."_ By reading Flavia write disability it sends a shiver up my spine. I have a deep desire to attack the Khan where she stands. I decide that because it would only cause problems, I decide to write back, _"I don't view it as a disability, your highness, but it is merely part of who I am, and there is nothing that I can do about it, so I don't need your pity, and I don't want to be viewed any different than how you view Chrom or Frederick, thank you."_ I nearly throw the book at her, and glare at her. She reads the message and laughs. SHe attempts to pat my shoulder, but I step back, continuing to glare at her. Chrom looks confused, and asks Flavia something, and she hands him the book. A moment later, Chrom looks up, looking offended. Chrom says something to Flavia, who straightens out her face, and takes the Book of Communication from Chrom and writes a passage. She hands the book to me, _"Well, since I am currently not in power, I can't provide you with the troops that you need, but we hold a tournament every few years, and I can set that date to be a few days from now. The problem is that I need champions to fight for me. If you accept, then I will ask that you, Robin, fight because I want you to prove me wrong, prove to me that you can overcome some of the greatest warriors from across the lands despite your disability. I will provide you with rules and specifications for the duel."_ I look to Chrom and nod once. He nods and tells Flavia of our agreement. She smiles and leads us away.

I'm led to a room that I would be sharing with Lissa, and I am showed to both the arena and training area. I participate in one of Frederick's Fitness Hours. After Flavia's comment, an anger had risen inside of me. Fueling my strength to the point that I beat both Frederick and Vaike in back to back duels without the use of magic. The next few days consist of the same things, wake up, Flavia will try to provoke me again, eat, train, eat, train, bathe and sleep. On the Sixth day of my regime, during Flavia's time of getting me to attack her, she handed me a set of rules. _"The round will be six on six, Robin, you get to choose four more people to fight alongside you, as Chrom has insisted on not letting you fight without him. There is to be no killing during the bout, but that rule is usually ignored, but Chrom has once again insisted on following that rule. We have weapons that you will use, but Chrom stated that he will use only Falchion, and that you insist on using your sword, which it seems that you have neglected at the moment, but that doesn't omit you or Chrom from the previous rule. The fight is the day after tomorrow, let us hope that your disability doesn't prevent you from winning."_ I nod, gritting my teeth as I read that last part of the paper. I nod again, handing Flavia the paper and heading off to the mess hall to go eat.

 _'Had I neglected to name my sword, I had thought Armorslayer was its name. Now that I mention it, I do remember seeing a dulled version in the training room. So I need to come up with a name.'_ I sit for a moment thinking, _'Fellblade'_ I smile darkly, _'Yes, that sounds nice, Fellblade. My Fellblade. Now if I could figure out a way to get magic imbued into it. That would be nice.''_ I finish eating and I follow through with my day as usual. I wake up tired on the day of the duel. I turn and place my bare feet on the ground. The ground is smooth stone, and colder than ice. It's comforting. I slide a pair of clean socks on my feet and put on my boots. I grab Fellblade and attach the sheath to my belt. I reach out to the Book of Communication, and hesitate. I feel comforted by having it, but having it during the duel means that I could either lose it or ruin it. Despite it being an object that is easy to replace, I had grown an attachment to the book. No matter how childish it was. I don't feel safe about leaving it here, as I don't know when I'll be back, because it could be the last time I step foot in this room. Maybe I should leave it with Virion or Stahl, as neither of them were actually fighting today, but they might decide to read through the book, or in Virion's case, try to write some stupid poem. I think for a moment before coming up with the perfect solution. Miriel. She has one, already read through the book under Chrom and Frederick's orders, and she was the least likely to try to leave me a message. I slip on my cloak and boots and run out of the room, book in hand. I run to Miriel's room, knocking on the door a few times before walking in. I see Miriel sitting at a desk, pouring over pieces of paper and several books. I open the Book of Communication to the last page with writing on it, the page of Miriel's instructions. I hand the book to her, and she looks startled for a minute, but quickly recovers. She takes the book, reads the last page and nods. I smile and leave.

I stand in the arena looking at our opponents. I see three fighters, two heavily armored knights and a figure in blue, but they were too hard to see at the back of the arena. On our side there is Chrom and I, along with Lissa, Frederick, Vaike and Sully. Seconds slowly tick by when Chrom walks to the middle of the Arena, the other blue figure walking closer as well. I wear a questioning look on my face and look towards Sully, who holds up a single finger. I nod and draw Fellblade, the weight slowly becoming more usual. I look back towards Chrom and see that he has begun to fight the blue figure, as they both mirror each other. I can't help but recognize the similarity. Another moment later, I see that the other Shepherds charge in. I run after them, and come face to face with one of the knights. As I charge. The knight's composure wavers slightly, as he lowers his lance. He attempts to poke at me from the range of his weapon, proving to be ineffective. I run into an opening, and slam the flat of Fellblade into his chest, denting his armor. He draws his lance in closer, making another attempt to attack me. His movements are slowed and look pained, but he still manages to hit me in my side. It hurts but other than a bruise, it shouldn't leave anything behind. I swing Fellblade around, cutting through his armor like a knife through warm butter. The knight looks terrified, as I slam the flat of my sword into the area I had just cut. The edges of the cut metal digs into his chest, causing blood to start spilling. He falls over, proving my victory. _'He certainly fell, didn't he, he fell to my blade.'_ I chuckle at the dark sense of humor I used when naming the sword. I look around and see that the last fight that was happening was Chrom and the figure in blue, who with a closer look, seemed to be Marth. It was strange, the coincidence of the two of them. Their fighting styles are near identical except Marth's seems more about grace and less about brute strength, while Chrom's was the opposite. The other similarity was their two blades, both appearing to be the same sword. Marth backflips to avoid Chrom's next attack, and goes in closer, swinging their blade around as if they weren't actually fighting, just dancing. Chrom swings Falchion at Marth's legs. Something that they should've easily been able to dodge, as they stared at the blade behind their mask. Marth fell, Falchion's tip at their throat. We had won, due to Marth not trying to win.

 _'Had Marth dodged that last strike, we would've lost, wouldn't we.'_ I wonder, waiting to get my book back from Miriel. Several moments later, I get my book back, and Cheom is talking with Flavia. They motion me over, and they have me follow them to a very large bald man. Next to the large bald man was a was another person, wearing blue, and fairly short unruly hair. He had a slightly curved blade, his hand on the hilt. As I near, he slowly walks back. I shrug it off as nothing more than being nervous about meeting new people. I open the Book of Communication and write to Chrom, _"Who are these people?"_ He chuckles before writing back, _"This is the West Khan Basillo and someone else, I haven't heard his name yet. Basillo said that his friends here was his contribution to our cause, why don't you try to get his name."_ I shrug, it's worth a shot. I write, _"Hello sir, my name is Robin, and I need your name if you are to join the Shepherds."_

I walk closer, the man walking backwards with every step. He says something as I get closer. I continue walking closer, and he draws his sword. I draw Fellblade, the Book of Communication in my left hand. I smile, _'Strike him down, use his fear against him.'_ I see Basillo laugh. The other man takes another step back before Chrom gets between us. He says something and the other man lowers his sword. Chrom looks at me, a look of worry and fear in his eyes. I sheath Fellblade and the other man sheaths his own sword. I walk closer, and the other man doesn't move, but a look of fear is in his eyes. He takes my book and pen and walks back a few steps, writes something and places the Book of Communication on the floor and slides it over. I glare at him. I pick up my book and read the page he write on. _"My name is Lon'qu, I ask that you stay back, so if you need to communicate with me, please use Chrom or someone that is not a woman hand this book to me."_ I nod, and leave.

* * *

 **Okay, I know that Falcon Knights in Awakening use Lances and Staves. I made the comment about Lances and Swords because in the older games, Falcoknights, which are the same thing, were able to use Lances and Swords. Robin has been reading up on Mark's adventures, which are from Elibe, where the Falcon Knights used Lances and Swords, so Robin believes that the Falcon Knights in Ylisse use those weapons instead of using Staves. Anyways, I think my favorite character to write in this chapter was Flavia. She was intentionally making Robin mad, hoping that if anger fueled her every move, then she would have a better chance at winning the tournament. Lon'qu was also very fun to write. I know I cut Lissa in that last scene, but I think that if Robin is a female, her character is obsolete in showing Lon'qu's fear. Well, Have a good Morning, day, afternoon, evening or night.**

 **Bye**

 **Karii Lynne**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Well, I am sorry about the late update, but that doesn't excuse that I should have had this up yesterday. I don't know when I'll have the next update up, I haven't even started on the next chapter. Anyways, if you see anything wrong with the story, just let me know, I don't have anyone read this over before I submit these besides myself. If you have any suggestions, let me know by either Private Messaging me, or by leaving a review. Anyways, enjoy.**

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I am happy to be back in Ylisstol, the weather was nice enough to sleep outside, which I found to be more comfortable than sleeping inside on a cot. The air smelled nicer, where the flowers grew, compared to the snow ridden land of Regna Ferox. I'll miss the snow though, the contrast between object and snow had made it easier to see plausible threats, such as Risen or Plegian bandits. The prior was the more common of the two, but they both were issues fought. We only stay in Ylisstol for about two days before we head down past Southtown to another village. Chrom informs me that they heard of a group of bandits down there, so we head down to take care of them. We meet a young man who has a pot on his head. I chuckle a few times watching him, but he is fairly good with a lance. Chrom wrote me that his name was Donny, and the newest member of the Shepherds. I watch as he talks to a crying elderly woman, she pats him on the shoulder, and hugs him. I come to the conclusion that this woman was either his mother or another significant family member. _"Was that your mother Donny?"_ I hand the Book of Communication to him. Donny scrunches his face, and says something handing my book back to me. He continues talking when Chrom walks up to him. Donny frowns, and begins talking again. Chrom rubs his own face, taking the book from my, writing down something. He hands the book to me.

 _"Hello ma'am, my name is Donnel. I can't read or write good, but I'd be willing ta learn. I'm sorry ta hear about your problem with ya ears, I can't say I've heard a thing about somethin' like that. I can try ta help with the stuff that ya need."_ I read over the message several times, figuring out how to reply. _"Chrom, tell him thanks, and that I'll keep that offer in mind. Also, see if Miriel can try to teach him how to read and write. Having a third person involved is a hassle. And next time, try not to copy his accent, it makes it hard to read."_

I hand the book back to Chrom, and he smiles sheepishly. He conveys my message to Donnel, and I take my book back. I begin trekking back to Ylisstol, slightly lagging behind Sully and Stahl, well ahead of Chrom, Frederick and Donnel. We set up camp, and I roll my bedroll on the ground, under the stars. I still find more comfort sleeping outside, tents get too stuffy and humid, while my room at the barracks is dusty from lack of use. I fall asleep staring at the stars. I wake up, feeling something that was all too familiar. I open my eyes, seeing Lissa's staff poking me in my shoulder. I roll over, and push myself off of the ground, and clean up my sleeping area. Lissa hands me a bowl of something. _'The less you know what that is the better.'_ the voice in my head says. I recognize the cooking to be Sully's. It is slightly more bearable compared to what it used to be, but it is still the worst in the Shepherds. I eat the voice in my head telling me to not look to it, eat every disgusting drop, because I would need it. I finish the bowl of the brownish goo, and hand the bowl back to Lissa. I don't think that I would've been able to finish whatever it was without that voice. Lissa looks at me shocked, and smiles a little, and runs off with it. I roll up my bedroll, and toss it in the convoy. I decide to sit on the back of the convoy and begin reading from my book on tactics.

 _"There are three easy ways to kill Wyvern Riders, Wind Magic, which is explained earlier in this book, Arrows, which again are explained earlier and Wyrmslayers. Wyrmslayers, Dragnpikes and Dragon Axes. These three weapons are made from Manakete Fangs, specially crafted to be resilient to wear. They are extremely rare, and have stopped being made, as the Manaketes used have been killed for this purpose. The only known weapons made have been made in times of old, the mass producers being the Kingdom of Dolhr. They were a country consisting of the Earth Dragon Medeus and several other Manaketes that created the country. Common belief that the Hero-King's mythical sword was too, made from the Fang of the Divine Dragon Naga. These weapons are able to easily cut through the scales of the Wyverns, and they act like heat to oil, burning the creature from the inside out, there is also speculation that..."_ My book is closed where I sit.

I look up glaring, my eyes meet those of Virion. I, having lost my place, place my book back in my pocket, and grab the Book of Communication, and open it. _"What do you want Virion? I was reading, and I don't like being interrupted when reading."_

 _"I, being the most gentlemanly of men, wonder why you worry yourself with these tiny scripts of mere speculation, when you could be doing things that a woman of your caliber should fret about. Things such as planning when you want a family, and other such things."_

I look up again, and point the other way. I glare, enraged at his accusation that I was the stereotype that he believed I should be. He stands there, unwavering. I continue my unblinking stare. Fear growing in his eyes, slowly, steadily. He backs away slowly, and runs off, faster than he has probably ever moved in his life. I slide off of my makeshift seat, and we all disembark back to Ylisstol. I walk in solitude, Virion probably has warned the other Shepherds of my actions of earlier. We make it back to the capitol, Sully leading the Shepherds back to the Barracks, Frederick, Chrom and Lissa head off to the palace, Lissa dragging me with her. We walk in the main palace doors, gaining similar looks like my first day. We walk right to the first room that we had gone to, and meet Emmeryn. She smiles and waves at us as we walk in, immediately striking up conversation with Chrom. Only a few moments pass before another woman runs into the room, a worried and scared look on her face. She talks with Emmeryn and Chrom, who look shocked. Chrom motions us out, practically running out of the palace, the rest of us in tow. I look over to Lissa, who looks like she is almost crying. I open the Book of Communication, writing, _"What happened, where are we going?"_

Lissa takes the book and pen, wiping her eyes, _"Maribelle has been kidnapped, the Duke of Themis' property has been attacked."_

I frown, and give her a determined nod. She gives me a small smile, and I start repacking the convoy, while Chrom, Frederick and Lissa run inside, probably to help with getting the other Shepherds to come. I look around, and see Kellam unpacking the items I had just packed. I open the Book of Communication, and write Kellam that we need to start packing it, not unpacking. He nods, helping with the packing. We finish, packing an extra few tents for the off hand that we pick up more people in our adventures. I see Chrom talking with a little kid wearing a blue uniform, very similar to Miriel's own outfit. Chrom finishes talking with him, and the kid sulks off, Chrom walking the other way. I walk with Kellam out of the city.

A day later, Emmeryn stands at the Ylisse-Plegia border, The Shepherds standing behind her. I watch from where I stand, noticing a large amount of Wyvern Riders, Dark Mages and Brigands. Emmeryn stands talking, when Chrom rushes out, Falchion drawn, ready to attack. Another moment passes, and I see Maribelle and that brown haired kid at the top of the closest ledge. The kid casts a spell at a woman. Maribelle takes the kid on her horse, and rides to the edge of the cliff. Lissa grabs a staff from the convoy, lifts it up, a spell being cast, and the two appear next to her. I run to Chrom, Book of Communication open, being written in as I run. _"Chrom, tell Frederick and Miriel to head to the to the west. Sumia and Virion need to attack the enemies from above. Just say these words, 'Kellam block that path on this first cliff, don't let anyone pass.' While you, Ricken, Maribelle and I head where we are needed. Tell Donnel to protect Emmeryn. Stahl and Sully need to climb up the cliffs, and drive forward with Lon'qu."_

Chrom nods, and begins barking out orders. I simply draw Fellblade, and stand. Frederick and Miriel ride to the west when I see several dark mages opening their tomes. I motion over to Chrom, who sees them, and sprints alongside me. Fellblade shines in the sunlight, and I bring it down, cutting through the dark mages before they cast their spells. Crimson blood drips from Fellblade onto the sand and grass. I smile darkly, the voice in my head seems happy, chuckling, laughing at the demise of the fallen. _'They certainly Fell to your Blade.'_ I laugh myself, and get a weird look from Chrom. I shrug it off. We make our way up the cliffs. I see the bodies of dead wyverns and their riders. We fight our way up the cliffs, more Plegians fall. Soon, the Plegians are dead, blood staining the ground for a while to come.

We scale down the cliffs, and meet up with Emmeryn. Chrom talks with her while Lissa talks to Maribelle. I stand waiting, Moments later, Chrom is rallying everyone to march back to Ylisstol. _'Everyday it's walking, trekking and marching. I think walking will be the end of me.'_ I groan, but continue walking.

Night has nearly fallen on the second day, the orange glow of the sun resting on the horizon, the sun had disappeared, when we make it back to Ylisstol. _'How can it take nearly three days to travel to Plegia, and only take less than two to get back? It makes no sense.'_ We leave the convoy packed as we start heading off to bed.

I lay on my cot, unable to sleep. Well, I had about an hour, but woke up and I can't fall asleep again. I roll out of bed, and begin to wander. I walk, and eventually find that I had made my way inside of the castle walls. I begin to had back when I see Chrom. I pull out the Book of Communication, and write, _"What are you doing up so late? Shouldn't you be asleep?"_

Chrom takes the book, having a hard time reading the book in this light. I can't say I blame him, but seeing that it was the only way of communication, I think we both have to live with it. He nods and shrugs, and takes my pen from me. _"Just dueling with some unpleasant thoughts. Tomorrow we march to Regna Ferox to request additional soldiers. But there's something you should know first. .Not everything Gangrel said was a lie, I know that you don't know what he said but you deserve to know. The last exalt, my father, waged war on Plegia for many years. It was a brutal campaign, ending only with his death 15 years ago. Plegia rightfully remembers their suffering, but his war was no kinder to his own people. As the fighting dragged on, our army became more and more diminished. Farmers who could barely wield a pitchfork were conscripted and sent to their deaths. Soon there was no food at all, and the kingdom began to collapse. I was young, but I remember those dark times. I know how they affected Emmeryn. When our father died before her 10th year, he left her quite the legacy, Plegia's desire for vengeance, our own people's unbridled rage. My sister became a target for blame from all sides. Her own subjects began to hurl insults, and stones. She still bears the scar from one. She never let them see her pain. Only Lissa and I understood. I cannot claim to know how she does it. I could never greet such hostility with warmth and patience. While our people mocked and vilified her, she reached out and healed them. She brought soldiers home to their families. She ended the war. And when Ylisse's spirit was mended and the people supposedly forgave her? She never resented them for it. She represents the best of the halidom, the part most worth protecting. She is peace, but some men would take advantage of that. Men like Gangrel. The day he understands peace will be the day death gives it to him. So perhaps I must be death's agent. Emmeryn would never order him killed, nor would I wish her to."_ I nod, not able to find the words to reply, I stand there, book in hand, pen in the other. I close the Book of Communication, my arm falling to my side. I look around, and see a familiar blue figure. I wave, and they wave back. Chrom looks over and looks shocked. Marth points over the way they came, and Chrom looks nervous, anxious even.

The two talk for less than a moment before Marth draws their sword, Chrom does the same. I see someone run out towards Chrom, sword in hand. Marth jumps up unto the air after throwing their sword, and backflips in the air, bringing their sword down on the attempted assassin's back. Marth stands there for a moment before another person charges out of the bushes. Marth slips on the first one's sword, falling with the least amount of grace I've ever seen them use. The second assassin makes a stab at Chrom through Marth. Marth's fall probably saves their life, if they were standing, the assassin's blade would have gotten through their body, killing them before anything could happen. Instead, Marth's mask is cut, oddly a perfect cut, as it falls of Marth's face. Chrom stabs Falchion through the second assassin. Marth stands up, revealing a feminine face, and long blue hair. I open the Book of Communication, and write to Marth, _"Is it just me, or did it seem like you knew that was going to happen? Second of all, who are you? Your sword looks an awful lot like Falchion, and I don't don't think it's a coincidence."_

She looks up at me, a look of shock in her face. She hold up a finger, and I turn around, seeing Chrom, who is looking back at the palace, running after it, motioning Marth and me over. I run with Marth, waiting an answer to my accusation. I get the Book of Communication back, my accusation completely crossed out, looking like an ink spill and a single word, _"Later."_

I catch up to Chrom and hand him the book, _"Chrom what happened?"_ Chrom looks at the book, taking my pen, writing, _"Explosion."_ I nod, not happy about the short answers I've been getting, but I understand why. We make our way into the palace, and near a large room, all doors closed. Several of the other Shepherds have made it there. Chrom takes the Book of Communication, _"Robin, we need a plan of defense, assassins have filled the palace."_ I nod, making a mental note of all who was here. Sully, Frederick, Chrom, Me, Stahl, Miriel, Lissa, Sumia and Kellam. I notice that Sumia, Stahl, Sully and Frederick all look fairly awkward without their mounts. I figure that they need to adapt anyway, so I ignore it. _"Chrom, you, me, Frederick and Lissa all head to the west hallway, and block it off from there, Marth needs to stay by that door, she should prove to be efficient. Kellam needs to go to the other door of Emmeryn's, and Miriel, Sumia, Sully, Stahl, need to divide themselves into two efficient forces and block the two southern hallways."_

Chrom nods, giving out the orders. I walk over to where I had ordered myself to go. I draw Fellblade, and see some of the assassins. Chrom, Frederick and Lissa. We charge out, Cutting down the enemies seemed easy, until Chrom slipped on the rug. Falling over causes a small bag tumble out of his possession. An orange haired man runs out, picks up the bag, and looks inside. He reaches his hand in, grabs something and pops it in his mouth. Chrom stands up, talking with him, and the orange haired man talks back. Chrom motions him over, and he walks over. I reach my hand out, making it look like a handshake. He reaches out as well, and as our hands near, I take the bag that he recently picked up, and look inside. Candy. I grab one, and get slapped in the hand by him. I grab one again, glaring at him. Taking the candy, and being slapped again. I hold fast to the candy, and put it in my mouth. I savor the candy as the orange haired person glares at me. I shrug it off, turn around and start cutting down the assassins.

The voice in my head seems to laugh, chuckle, at the blood stained carpets, the blood drained bodies, and the blood dripping off my blade. When I next notice my surroundings, I see Chrom and the orange haired person stared shocked, while Lissa had her eyes covered by a very concerned Frederick. Frederick pushes Lissa out of the hallway, and follow me down. I look to the sides, and see the openings to the other sections of the palace. I see the other Shepherds gawking at me. Marth stares, seemingly admiring my handiwork. I sheathe my bloody blade, and I see Chrom sprinting down the hallway, motioning me to the side. I turn around, and see a sorcerer, holding a tome, channeling the spell. I roll over the dead bodies, to the wall. I turn to see Chrom toss Falchion into the air, and bring it down over the guy's head.

Moments later, guards fill the room, CHrom talks to them as they begin cleaning up the bodies of the fallen. I walk outside, the smell of blood adding a sickening feeling in my stomach. I see Marth walking away. I run up to her. I open the Book of Communication and write a few words, _"You owe me an explanation."_

Marth looks at the book, takes my pen and asks, _"Do you promise not to tell Chrom?"_ I nod. She continues writing. _"My name is Lucina, I came from the future. I know that you are the Deaf Tactician. You have to make sure that you don't go on one of your killing sprees like you did in there on your next journey. It is a habit that you end up relying on too heavily, and it will cause the death of the other Shepherds. After you read this, scribble it out like done before, no one needs to read this."_ I look up, and see that Lucina is gone. I scribble out the message, and walk back into the palace.

* * *

 **Well, this chapter had the first of a few AU-ish parts, I hope it doesn't take too much from the story from you guys. I still don't know who I would like Robin to marry yet, suggestions are still open, I just ask that they are not children characters, talk about awkward conversations with the parents. The only ships that are set in stone are Chrom and the previously hinted mystery woman, and Sumia x Henry because that conversation is one of the best. Anyways, I apologize again for the late update, I rewrote this chapter several times, having a hard time starting the chapter. That is not a good excuse, but it's what happened. Anyways, have a good morning, day, afternoon, evening or good night, or whatever time it happens to be where you live.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: I thank everyone who has written a review. I've been reading all the Female Robin support logs. I know that they'd have to be altered, but more or less, they're going to be similar. I'm sorry for the people who like the Lon'qu x Robin ship, I don't think that I'd be able to find a way to do that ship, because the conversations would be a huge pain to write in a way that I am proud of, so I'll try to at least start that ship in this chapter, but I have no guarantees of how well it will work. With the other ships that you all suggest, I will start writing them, but even then I don't know which it will be. Someone has suggested Robin x Sully, which I would love to do, so I'll probably write a oneshot after this story for that, but after starting this story, I decided that I would like to have Morgan in this story. I apologize for all of that. Also, few people have been contacting me about how Robin has bloodlust, and I have a reason for it. **SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE GAME, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED** My theory is that Grima while being dormant , tries to enact his will through Robin, but is unable to be heard from background noise that is usually filtered out, thus Grima's voice is filtered out as well, but when Robin can't hear, that voice stays, talking, so Robin is forced to have that voice in her head the entire story. So this Robin is a bit darker than some other Robins in other stories that you may have read, but that doesn't mean that she isn't still a good person. **SPOILERS END HERE** Anywho, please enjoy this next chapter.**

* * *

Walking. The sweet escape from reality so many crave. I see why they enjoy it, the fresh air, only the occasional bout of smoke passes, and the occasional Risen attacks happen, which smell of death and decay, but for the most part, the air is fresh, the smell of the lush forests pass from time to time, the sparse flowers on the end of the edge of the road fills your nostrils. Grass grows near constantly, which removes the smell of dust and dirt. The walking was nice, it allows the mind to wander, to look at the skies, watch the little white puffs move across the sky. I watch as Sumia carries a pie, trips over her own feet, falls to the ground, blood escaping her knees, and the pie tumbles out of her arms, only to be stepped on by Frederick's horse. I notice that that must've been her third, no, fourth attempt to deliver that pie to someone. I walk over, and help her up, and open the Book of Communication. _"Who are you even trying to give those to?"_

She blushes, smiling, and waves it off. Only writing a few words, _"It doesn't matter, thank you."_

I know that it does matter to her, pies are a pain to cook, and she must have nasty scars from the falling, so I write back, _"Sumia, really, one attempt would be nothing, dedication to plan, make and deliver a pie several times, that is not nothing. Trying several times, and hurting your legs, and having to clean Frederick's horse is something else."_

She looks up and frowns. _"They were for another one of the Shepherds."_

I nod, replying with, _"My advice, stop trying. Eventually, you're just going to fall, and hurt yourself worse than just scraped knees."_

She just nods, walks over to Lissa pointing at her knees. I walk thinking, _'I just hope I didn't cause her to fail with whatever she was planning for this Mystery Shepherd, I'd feel terrible.'_

Hours later we set up camp. Since we are doing group training in a few hours, I decide to look through the convoy for anything to do, as I forgot my book of tactics back in Ylisstol. I find a small bundle, unlabeled, and one that I haven't seen. I pull it out, and take it back to a fairly open area. I open the bundle to find several wood carved, and painted, figurines. I grab out each piece individually, revealing twenty blue figures, twenty red, a small scroll, and a massive book of maps. The book when open, completely flattens out. Each page has a grid, each individual square seems to have different landscapes. I open the small scroll, _"To any tactician that needs to test strategy without wearing out your troops."_ I smile.

" _Use the units provided to enact even the craziest of strategies."_ I frown, I had been hoping that that would give more detailed information. _'Improvise, if you do that, then you could still enact your, less favorable, strategies without the downsides. Yet keep your tactical mind strong.'_ I smile again, setting up the red figurines to be attacked by the blue. I will be blue.

The sun dips lower in the sky as I play, _'Okay, use the Pegasus Knights to attack the mages after the myrmidons and mercenaries kill off the archers. Send the cavaliers out to flank the knights, and send in the mages to finish off the enemies in that location. Now red, move your brigands to attack the Pegasus Knights, and send in your own knights to kill off the blue myrmidons and mercenaries. Send wyvern lords to attack the knights, and send in your own cavalry to finish theirs off.'_ I stop for a moment, looking at the board, one move left, and blue won, but was that a surprise? I had favored blue throughout the entire thing, so would I be slightly bias in that sense? I look up, and rub my face. _'How long has it been... oh crap.'_

My vision clears when I see a very angry Frederick staring at me. I smile, knowing that I missed training. I start packing up when Virion walks up to him, and begins talking. They talk for a moment, Frederick leaves, after nodding towards me. I am confused. I grab the Book of Communication, and walk to Virion, _"What just happened, Frederick never goes easy on anyone who misses training, what did you way to him?"_

Virion takes the book, and my pen, and writes, _"Well, I had been over on the other side watching you with your game of tactics. I simply told Sir Frederick that you, being the fair lady that you are, were practicing your skills in battle, yet not being what one would think battle to be, but being your skill at leading and planning in battle. After that, he asked how it is good learning if you only practiced against yourself, so I said that I was your opponent, and he said that he wanted to see how it works sometime."_ I read frowning.

" _I was my own opponent, nor did I even know of your presence, so you lied to him."_

" _I am a gentleman, and a gentleman does not lie, he merely sets up his lies to become truths, so it looks bad on neither of us."_ I glare at him.

" _Virion, I don't like being used so you can keep your honesty, even though you were still dishonest, I'd rather face the remedial sessions of training with Frederick than be used in the schemes of anyone."_ His face wavers, uneasiness growing in his smile as he reads.

" _We still owe Frederick the course where we show him how that game of yours works, meaning that I need to learn how to play. When do we begin?"_

I glare, and motion him across from me, handing him a red piece along with my book, _"Due to the lack of instructions, I made my own up, you should either know the rules by watching me already, or learn as you go, you got me stuck with this, so I'm not going to teach you. I'm blue, always."_

An hour passes when I see what happened. _'I lost.'_ Well technically, I lost fewer units than Virion, but he had taken out the crowned unit, that I have a strong desire to call a lord. I stare shocked at Virion. He nods before standing up, and walks away, leaving me in my misery of defeat. I sit there for a few moments, getting used to the fact that I had lost. I begin cleaning up, and take the bundle back to my tent. After placing the bundle on the ground, I feel a hollowness in my stomach, and walk to the mess tent. I smell who is cooking before I can see who. Everyone's food has its unique smell when it's cooking. Sumia's cooking tends to smell heavily of seasoning, Gaius's cooking tends to smell sweeter than anyone else's. Lon'qu, Miriel and Lissa's food all smell similar being a plain smell neat usually cooking. Maribelle hardly ever cooks, so I haven't learned how her food smells yet, and lastly, Sully's food smells like burning food. Right now, I smell Gaius's sweet smelling food when I open the tent, and I walk in.

I walk in to see that only he is in there, not even Kellam. I see that the usual rolls are dusted in sugar, even the butter smells better and sweeter than it usually does. I see that there is a strange sauce on the chicken, it smells like chocolate mixed with some spice. I smile filling my plate with this sweet smelling food. I begin eating when I see Gaius walk out from cooking and sit across from me. He looks like he wants to say something, and I ignore it. He continues to sit there, unmoving. I continue eating, trying not to give way to giving him my Book of Communication, as the only possible thing that I know that he would want is to talk.

What he wants to talk about is obvious. The first night after embarking to some new place to take Emmeryn, I accidentally walked in on him. I was merely trying to get his personal information for the roster, and I saw a very personal side of him. I merely left, leaving him an apology, and haven't seen him since.

Now he sits across from me, wanting to talk. I stand up to leave when Gaius pulls out a few bear shaped suckers, and holds them out to me, barely out of my reach. I sit back down, and hand him the book, and he hands methe candy. He writes, as I eat my candy. He pushes the book over, _"Bubbles, I know that you saw the tattoo on my arm, another might have missed it, but you seem never to not see anything."_

That. The tattoo is one of some super prison in Ylisse, it marks the convicted for life, and you only go there for doing something really super bad. _"One, why am I Bubbles, two, yes, I did see the prision tattoo, and three, thank you."_

 _"Well, don't tell Blue about that."_

 _"Who's Blue?"_

 _"Blue, the blue blooded, blue haired lord."_

 _"So, Blue is Chrom. Fine I won't tell 'Blue' about your history, no problem."_

He looked calmer, and then a slight amount of shock, _"So, you're blackmailing me? Fine."_

The last statement he handed the book back with a sack of candy. I take the candy bag, and wrote back, _"I'm not blackmailing you."_

He holds his hands up, walking away backwards. I finish my food, taking my new candy bag when I leave. I make my way to my tent, seeing how dark it is outside, and fall asleep.

I wake up and look outside, seeing the hierarch looking at the mountains. I ignore him, figuring that it's just some paranoia of not knowing what was behind those mountains. I tear down my tent, and toss everything into the convoy. I wait for a little while the others begin to wake and pack up.

Eventually, we disembark. I walk, focusing on the hierarch, who is continuing to focus on the mountains and into the gorge. I frown, _'He's waiting he knows something is coming. Robin, grab Fellblade, but don't draw the sword, keep your sword hand gripped on the handle and wait. When the sun is halfway through the sky, draw the blade, and you'll be the first one prepared.'_

I listen to the voice in my head, and I have a feeling that the voice is right, but I can't explain why. The familiar handle is felt by my palm and fingers, calming me slightly. _'Get a tome with wind magic, it doesn't matter what form, just wind.'_ I make a confused face, but listen to the voice, and walk over to the convoy. I find an Elwind tome, and smile, I haven't used magic this complex before, I don't think, and it'll be fun to learn.

I look up, and see the sun is directly above me, and I draw Fellblade. Sumia and Sully give me a weird look, but shrug it off, gripping the handles of their lances. A few moments later, Frederick is talking to the hierarch, who looks extremely worried, sweat falling off his forehead, despite the slightly chilly weather. Another moment passes when a large band of bandits appear on the horizon, from the gorge and from behind the mountains. Everyone draws their weapons, Chrom speaks with Emmeryn, who leaves with the captain of the Pegasus Knights. The hierarch walks towards the bandits, plegian by the looks of it, and gets struck down with an axe. None of the shepherds show protest to that, and I don't either. THe wyvern riders start swarming in, and I have no time to give instructions. _'If they die, less trouble for you. Each one of their deaths makes one less person that you will have to kill later, not much less trouble, but still, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.'_ I shake off those thoughts by the time that a wyvern rider comes close to face to face with me.

I jump into the air, bringing Fellblade down over the back of the rider. He falls over the side of hs mount, and I swing down on the back of the wyvern's neck. It stops moving, and falls the rest of the way to the ground. I look around, and see several of the flying warriors surrounding me, the other shepherds behind the massive wall of them. I begin using the Elwind tome that I had found in the convoy, damaging the wings of the wyverns, as they crashed into the gorge. Every wyvern that dies, two more seem to appear. My actions become mindless, dodge, dodge, cast, jump, slash, repeat. I have to constantly remind myself of the gist of Lucina's words, _'Don't rely too heavily on your mindless slaughter.'_ Eventually, I see a white figure coming from behind the main group. They get closer when I realize that it was someone on a pegasus. They throw a javelin, piercing a wyvern rider through the chest, and another javelin flies, hitting another wyvern through the eye. I smile, whoever this was will make a great addition to the shepherds.

The figure becomes easy to see from where I am, long red hair, armor like Sumia, so I figure that they are a Pegasus Knight like Sumia is. Whoever she is, lands after the majority of the wyvern riders are killed off, and walks up to me. Before she even starts talking, I point at me ears and shake my head. She frowns immediately and says something really short. I shrug it off, and look around at the dead bodies. I walk over and grab the javelins that the redhead had thrown. I grab them, and hand them to the girl, who decides to wipe them off. I sheath my still bloody sword, and get a disgusted look from her. I shrug it off, not caring about her need to have everything clean. We regroup with the other Shepherds. Emmeryn returns, talks with Chrom and Lissa, and leaves with the captain that she had left with. We continue our march to Regna Ferox.

We march through the snow, all the way until we go into the Feroxi Castle. Chrom begins talking with Flavia, who informed me that her insignificant other would be joining us soon. I almost ask who her insignificant other was, but I don't think it's worth the paper to ask. Moments of talking later, Basilo walks in, a grave face. He says something to Chrom, who looks enraged. I walk up to him, _"What happened?"_

He looks at the paper, and writes, barely legible, _"Ylisstol has fallen."_

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 **Well, I know that I skipped out of the Sumia punching Chrom scene, but I had always found that scene was one of the few things that try to support Chrom x Sumia, and I try hard not to do any of that. Anyways, sorry for the late update, but I don't know when the next update will happen, I hope it will be this weekend, but I cannot guarantee that. Well, I hope that you liked this chapter, so good morning, afternoon, evening or goodnight.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: I apologize for that hiatus, school hit like a freight train. I hope that this chapter makes up for that. Well, enjoy.**

I turn towards Basilo, and hand him the book, _"What exactly happened?"_

" _Well, what has been told from our contacts, Plegians stormed Castle Ylisse while you were in were traveling, and when they did that, the Exalt was taken, to be executed within the moon."_

I frown, quickly scrawling, _"I'll be damned if she is going to be publicly assassinated."_ after handing him the book, the only thing that went through my head was, _'She's going to die anyway, so why does it matter? You will never get there in time, much less able to save her from her eventual death.'_ Basilo claps my shoulder, and I look back at him. I notice that Chrom had left, leaving me alone with Basilo. I look at the book that made it's way into my hands. I look at it, and see Chrom's familiar handwriting, small blotches of water blurring and smearing the ink, _"We're leaving, now."_ I turn around, and wave good bye to Basilo, not looking back.

The desert sands of Plegia are oddly comforting. Despite my massive black cloak, I feel cool, like the weather is similar to Northern Ylisse. I notice by looking at everyone else, sweat is dripping off their faces, even of the two people we met along the way. Gregor, the mercenary that knew how to write numbers and several different ways of writing currencies, and nothing else. The other was Nowi, the manakete that looked like a little kid that needed to be more modest. I look around to see Stahl pouring out his shoes, again, emptying them of sand. I see the horses having a hard time moving, their feel burrowing themselves into the loose ground. The same seems to be happening to Kellam, he is dug deep into the sand, which has made it's way up to his knees. I stifle a laugh, dragging him out of the ground. We walk more, and he gets buried again. We continue this the entire way, and I get exhausted from this. Eventually we make our way to massive bones, ones that seem to be from ages past. I see figures in the distance, and I do not recognize them. I draw Fellblade, and I see that the others follow suit. I smile. I run down, and see them to be Plegian mages. _'These are the Grimleal, drop your sword, take off your glove and show them your hand, and they will let you go with them.'_ I shake my head, ignoring the voice, and slash them down. Their blood seeps into the dry ground, disappearing immediately. I look at the tomes they once held, I take them, an Elthunder, Elfire and Elwind. I smile, a perfect set. I manage to get them into my pockets, and to make room, I grab out the Book of Communication. I walk back to Chrom, who is met along with a landing Cordelia. Chrom motions me over, and I hand him my book with a pen.

" _Cordelia says that there are a large number of dark mages and wyvern riders. Just over the wall, there are knights."_ I nod.

" _Kellam will guard the convoy, he has a hard time moving in the sand, Sully, Stahl and Frederick all need to stay in the back, they can hardly move in the sand. Cordelia and I will do a bit of wyvern hunting, while Virion snipes them from the ground. Gaius needs to protect Lissa, and Ricken needs to protect Maribelle. Lon'qu needs to charge in with Gregor. Nowi needs to carry Vaike over to the other side to flank the enemy if she is able, otherwise, they still need to get to the other side to flank the enemy. Sumia and Miriel need to pair up, and do what they see fit. If there is anyone I missed, tell them to find gaps in my strategy and fill them. I'll tell Kellam his job, I need to drop off this book, I can't carry it the entire time."_

Chrom nods, and I walk to Kellam. I underline his role and hand it to him. He reads the instructions, nods and I wave goodbye. I walk over to Cordelia's pegasus. She appears a few moments later, a steel spear in hand, along with what looks like a quiver with four javelins. She straps it to her mount, and climbs on, and helps me up. I nod in thanks. She nods back, and we take off.

I see my plan begin working, but not a moment passes before wyvern riders begin attacking. I draw my Elthunder, and watch sadistically as I see the wyverns spasm from the electricity, and the rider's uncontrollable movements that occasionally caused them to cut off their own mount's wings. I switch from thunder magic to wind magic, and send the riders flying down to their deaths. The riders, after several of their deaths, land for a moment, and fly back up. I look closer, and notice that they brought up their own dark mages. The wyvern riders fly around Cordelia and me, trapping us in a spherical prison. One of the dark mages casts a wind spell, and it hits me in the chest, and I fall off of Cordelia's pegasus.

' _Crap.'_ is the only word that comes to mind as I fell. I cast Elwind, and the propulsion from the spell sent me upwards. I smile at this new discovery. I cast the spell another two times, and I am above one of the wyvern riders. I draw Felblade, and land on the head of the wyvern, and cut down the rider and accompanying dark mage. I cast Elwind a few times to get to the next wyvern. _'This is fun, and not logged in any strategy books.'_ I continue with this new fighting style when I make it back up to where Cordelia is. She sees me, and I wave. Her face shows a vast amount of shock, and her face looks pale. It feels like I'm laughing, but I'm not sure, the entire system feeling like habit, not anything that is noticeable. Soon all of the wyvern riders are fallen, quite literally, and I find myself falling again. I only cast Elwind a few times a minute, just trying to slow my fall. I see that Cordelia is trying to come down to my level, but it won't help, pegasi cannot fly straight down. I close my eyes before hitting the ground, _'Well, that as a fun way to go.'_

I never hit the ground. I open my eyes to see that a woman with a very masculine face caught me, ax on the ground next to her. She smiles, and sets me down. I nod in thanks, and she looks calmed. I take a closer look at her face, no his face. This was a male, not a female. The jawline was a bit too rigid, the eyes not quite so soft. I look over and see Chrom running our way. I wave my arm above my head, and he starts running. He looks incredibly worried, and he notices that I'm fine and calms down. The other man grabs his ax, and begins talking with Chrom, and the other man nods, a lot, and eventually Chrom points out the other direction, and he goes. I begin walking that way, Fellblade just inches away from dragging lines into the sand. Several dark mages meet their end before I see what's happening. At the top of the ledge, I see a figure in green, with long blonde hair, and another. I stare trying to figure out what's happening, when I notice a blast if dark magic flies past me. I turn around to see an enemy knight fall to the ground. I look back to where the blast had come from, to see a woman, with black hair staring at me. I nod at her, and she smiles, and I notice, she is the last plegian that hasn't died. She merely points up where the woman in green stands, with another two figures next to her. I look around momentarily, and see Chrom sprinting towards them, completely oblivious to the fact that she must be higher up than the top of Castle Ylisse.

Twenty seconds. It takes twenty seconds to change everything. The first second, several white dots appear on the horizon. The third second, several black clouds appear all over, a large concentration under the ledge. Fifth second, the woman in green wavers momentarily, LIssa begins crying, and Chrom runs faster. Sixth second, I identify the woman in green as Emmeryn with use of the emotional difference in Chrom and Lissa. Tenth Second, the Black Clouds become Risen, both mages and archers. Eleventh Second, Emmeryn falls, wind shaking her green gown mercilessly. Thirteenth second, the Risen archers launch a volley of arrows at the white figures, who were the Ylisse Pegasus Knights. Seventeenth seconds, Emmeryn lands on the ground, along with the Pegasus Knights. Eighteen seconds, the Risen mages fire a wall of fire, hitting our convoy, instantly dissolving the wooden cart. Nineteen seconds, I'm running after the hellfire, and trip, the blackened remains of Kellam's armor being the cause. Twenty seconds, everything in the convoy is destroyed beyond use, the weapons have visual cracks, or are completely destroyed. Every scrap of paper burned instantly. All of our maps, tactics, money. Gone. All my communication abilities, gone in an instant. All of Miriel's research on whatever she had been studying, gone, everything.

I draw Fellblade again, and charge into the massive horde of Risen, fire searing my coat, burning the drying blood on my sword, giving me the aroma of death. The Risen are dead, turned into the black smoke of which they came. I see everyone retreating, Chrom waving towards me furiously. I sheathe my sword, and run after them. I notice the man with an ax and the dark mage join us.

 **Well, I know I skipped over the chapter before this, it was just giving me problems and a hard time. Anyways, I don't know when the next chapter is going to be up, but I'll try to make sure it is up by next weekend. So, I hope to see you then. Have a good morning, afternoon, evening or night.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Yay, another update. I apologize for the delay for this, I've been writing this in between classes, but no longer. Anyways, a lot happens in this chapter, but I don't know if it is rushed, so if you guys/gals/people think that it is, either leave me a Private Message or a review and I will try to reedit this chapter and fix the pacing. Well, read and review, and enjoy.**

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A few days pass, a heavy feeling of solitude and loneliness sets in. I see everyone, and they see me, yet we cannot communicate. The dark mage that joined us before Emmeryn's demise follows me everywhere, I can't even sleep alone, she's always there, staring. I spend most of my time thinking. The one person that truly trusted me died. Granted, her trust in me was based on a lie her brother said. One of my friends died, following my orders, my stupid order for him to protect the convoy. Both, deader than the Risen that have been killed by the Shepherds. It's pathetic. When I close my eyes, I see Emmeryn's great fall, and Kellam's charred armor, and the fire that claimed him. Both deaths were my fault. If my strategy would've been more efficient, Emmeryn wouldn't of died, and if I had moved the convoy, sent it to flee before Kellam and the supplies burned. They were both my fault, and I should've been able to save both of them. _'They were both dead anyway, so why bother with them, everyone is going to burn, just like that armored fellow that was your friend, Kellam yes? Emmeryn was either going to die just then, full of herself, or in a much more... fun... manner. Her blood would've made a nice addition to your, our, Fellblade. Soon, only the darkness will remain.'_

My eyes feel bruised and swollen. Bruised from not sleeping, as dreams are the gateway to despair, and swollen from the tears that have run down my face. My dreams, no, nightmares are of trying to prevent death, yet everyone dies, and I can't help but smile. I am going on day four or five without sleep. Food tastes like the desert sands we walk on, dry, grainy, and tasteless. It doesn't matter what it is, it all tastes the same. The only reason I actually eat is that the dark mage glares at me, a look of what looks like murder in her eyes.

I sit next to the fire, Chrom next to me, no one seems to want me alone, and I look around. Three people that I don't recognize from before the last batte. The man that looks like a woman, he has a staff and an ax, so I have no clue if anything about him. Priests don't typically learn how to use axes, and ax fighters don't typically learn to use staves. The second person is the dark mage that follows my every step. Due Basilo only managing to get half the number of tents we needed, she shares a tent with me. She's taken the pleasure to grab my arm when we march, I don't know if it is customary in Plegia to do so, so I don't attempt to remove my arm from her grasp. The third person is a woman, rose haired, consistently has a blush in her face, and always leaving camp at night.

I see her, walking in the shadows, and she slips into the light, walking away. I nudge Chrom, and point towards her, and shoo him away. He leaves, careful with every step, and he disappears.

 _'Don't let your guard now yet, someone is still nearby, hiding. Pretend to yawn, and go to bed. Ignore anyone that tries to talk to you, just go to bed.'_ I pretend to yawn, not quite realizing that weariness ached at me, and I walk to my tent, on the other side of camp. I look around as I walk, and notice Frederick pinning up paper I each tent. I also notice Sumia walking with a pie. She placed it next to Chrom's tent. She runs off. A moment later, Chrom is walking past his tent, stepping in the pie. I laugh, and resume my walk to my tent.

I walk in, and lay down on my bed roll, _'Now sleep, we need it now, and Tharja is coming soon, after you fall asleep.'_ I close my eyes wondering who Tharja was, when I fall asleep. My dreams are plagued with watching Emmeryn fall, and I couldn't stop smiling, relishing in the despair that emitted from Chrom, Lissa, and even myself.

I awaken to someone petting my head. I immediately open my eyes, roll over, holding Fellblade towards whoever was there. The dark mage that shares this tent stared at me, her face slowly getting redder. I gain my composure, and leave faster than I ever thought possible. I pass Gaius in my attempt to flee, and he hands me a filled canteen. I smile and sniff the contents, water and something else. I take a sip. Honey and water, not bad. I nod thanks to him, and I vaugely see his face turn a little red before he runs off. I shrug, and walk off, skipping breakfast as I don't have a desire to eat.

An hour later, we break camp. I have no maps, so we walk in an arbitrary direction, and don't stop. _'Can't you just taste depression in the air? You seem to have the biggest of them, don't you Robin. Makes sense, it was all your fault.'_ I wipe my eyes, that stupid voice pulling the right ropes, making me feel like a mere puppet. _'Isn't it odd that, it's never okay to cry, yet always okay to die. Death would be the least of all the problems, just ends them all immediately, but if you cry, you'll look weak in front of everyone. So, don't cry, make sure everyone follows for when you all die.'_

As if on queue, the dark clouds in the sky begin raining, heavily. A few moments of the rain, the dark mage manages to catch up to me, and latches onto my arm. I pull my arm free, and glare. She continues this loop of seizing my arm, being shaken off and scolded, and grabbing my arm again. I don't want her near me after this morning, let alone grabbing my arm while walking, and why did she insist on doing so?

This charade continues for the next half hour before I see, through the lightening rain, what seemed to be a wyvern. I point at what I see, and the dark mage turns towards the people behind us and says something, causing even the ones from far away to draw their weapons. We charge in, no plan whatsoever and begin the massacre. One by one Plegians fall, _'Kill the dark mage Tharja, make it look like an accident. You don't want her petting you in your sleep again, or do you?'_ I shut up this voice, _'She mush have good intentions, so why kill her?'_ This receives a groan from the voice.

I then realize the heap of dead bodies around me, each one pale in face and skin, blood seeping it's way into the sand, and splattered on my boots and cloak. _'When did this happen?'_ I spin in a circle. I see a path of destruction, weaving its way around hills. _'Remember what Lucina said, doing that will cause the entire army's downfall. Focus.'_

Yet, there are no more Plegians, merely just pale faced corpses, staring at me. I know not where anyone is, so I backtrack. Seeing the vast amount of dead bodies makes me want to vomit and laugh. Just seeing what I had done emits an aura of joy, bringing a smile to my face, yet it forms a knot in my stomach, making me wonder how someone could kill this many people, and still have their humanity.

Eventually, I find my way back to the Shepherds. I see Chrom taking with Sumia and Cordelia, and Sumia flies away from my location while Cordelia flies just to my right, immediately landing next to me, laughing. She points at me, then at the group, and flies off the same direction as Sumia. I shrug, and walk towards the Shepherds.

Being alone was more comfortable than being in a group. Being with the Shepherds left a feeling of segregation, being close to the only people you know, unable to communicate. _'But being unable to hear wasn't enough, was it Naga. No. You decided to take my friends, the only person that trusted me from the beginning, and all ways of talking, audible or written, you stole that away from me. What did I do to you?'_ My face is wet, tears. _'It's never okay to cry, you're a subcommander of an army, get a hold of your emotions.'_ I wipe my face with my sleeve, but it was a futile attempt, the dreams of tears immediately reclaimed their form. I pull my hood over my head, grateful it looms over my face. A moment later, just when I lose focus on everything around me, I feel a hand on my face. I turn to see Tharja, a worried look on her face. I swat her hand away _'Can't you tell that I just want to be alone?'_ I think, knowing she can't know what I'm thinking. A few seconds later, she loops her arm around mine, and I have to pry her hands off. She grabs hold of my arm again, and I pry her hands off again. We continue this cycle for several moments before I see Gaius walk up to her, and they talk. After a minute, Gaius is nodding, as if agreeing to terms of surrender, and Tharja leaves, and I nod in thanks towards Gaius, who nods, and latches his arm around mine like Tharja was doing. I yank my arm free and glare, and he retaliates with a look that can only mean one thing, stop. I nod begrudging, and he smiles, taking out a lollipop shaped like a bear. He holds it just above my reach, curse my height disadvantage against him. He loops his arm around mine, and once he notices there will be no struggle, he hands me the candy, and I smile, and pop it in my mouth. I realize that this is actually more comfortable than when Tharja did the same thing. I smile again, _'I could get used to this.'_

We walk for a while longer, and the evening falls. Gaius attempts to remove his arm, but my automatic reaction is to hold tighter. I see him chuckle, as I let go. He hands me another lollipop, and I toss the small wooden stick from the previous one in the ground and bury it in the sand with my foot. Gaius leaves, the dark voice in my head giving a small, knowing laugh, quietly saying, _'Yes, he'll do nicely.'_

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 **Well, if you couldn't tell, I may or may not have just heavily,** **heavily** **, hinted at the two most important ships in this story. I hope that you are all enjoying the story so far, roughly the first half of the story is going to be completed within the next two, if not one, chapter(s). In case anyone is wondering, in place of the two year gap, I'm either going to write highlights in something along the lines of journal entries, or I'll do several time skips. Anywho, I apologize again for the delay on update, but now I'm not failing any classes, I hope that I can update more frequently. Well, have a good morning, day, evening, night, or whatever time it is.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Well, Merry (Late) Christmas/ Happy (Late) Holidays And Also Happy New Year. I feel bad about the super late update, but *shrug* I had a hard time with this chapter, so sue me if you want, but that'll change nothing. Anywho, thank you to my followers that follow even after hiatuses galore, I'll try to write more, but... It gets hard after a while. So, this is the chapter that's taken month and a half of restarting everything and starting from scratch. No promises on when the next update will be up, but it should be sometime next year. I hope you enjoy.~**

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In the morning, everything feels different. The overall gloom that had been present the last several days, or was it weeks, seemed to have dissipated a little bit. A little. When I wake, I see that my tent is completely empty, as if somebody cleared it out and only left me alone. I shrug, grabbing Fellblade and strapping it onto my belt. The first step outside of my tent, Flavis tackles me, dragging me away. I stop flailing when she brings me to our Strategizing Tent, Battle Tent, Battle Tent of Strategy? No one was very clear on the name. I haven't been in here since before Emmeryn's Great Fall, as the maps and whatnot were in the convoy when it burned. Flavia sets me down before shoving me through the opening of the Battle Tent of Strategy. I see very little before I fall to the ground, mostly a few pens and something on a table.

' _That Blonde child of a ruler needs to be taught a lesson, wouldn't you agree Robin?'_ The voice says, _'Right after The Baldness-'_

Less than a second after I hit the ground, I'm picked up by who I'm guessing the voice was referring to by the Baldness, Basillo. The voice shuts up when I actually see the contents of the table. Several maps of Plegia, pens and a single thin, seemingly empty, book.

' _Congratulations Robin, you can now talk to all the people who don't trust you, yay.'_ the voice says, sarcasm and apathy woven into every word.

I grab the book, and see the only thing written, _"Sorry for not being able to get you a bigger book, it's quite hard trying to lie to a salesman that you are both a dancer and an author, so to avoid being asked too many questions, I just opted to grab a smaller book. So, I'm sorry for taking up so much space in your Precious Book. Olivia"_

Not knowing who Olivia is, I shrug, looking at the several maps, reorganizing the order of several of them, to form the big picture. I see Frederick moving in to reorganize, so I swat his hand away. I see Flavia smile and whisper to Basillo. Why was I moving them around, it just seemed wrong the way they were. I study the new map, and draw a small dot in where I figure where we are. I grab the small book and write, _"Frederick, sorry your map looked wrong so i fixed it. Tell me if my dot is actually where we are."_

He takes the book as I hand it to him, and he takes a pen from the table. He frowns uneasily, quickly scrawling in the book and handing it back and leaving the tent. I see Chrom trying to call him back, but I just shrug, I don't like Frederick's company anyway. I read what he wrote _"I apologize for getting the map arrangement wrong, but this just proves that you are Plegian Scum. Your dot is less than an inch on the map from where we should currently be. Good Day."_

I know I should be offended, but I shrug, he's just acting like Maribelle during tea time. I motion Chrom over, as he's walking over, I quickly write, _"Can you ask Flavia and Basillo if they would mind leading a head on charge so that the Shepherds can lead a direct assault on Gangrel without being confronted with the entire Plegian Army? Also, this is probably not my place to ask, but what is Frederick's problem?"_

Chrom takes the thin book, and after a few seconds looks up at Basillo and Flavia, who are still whispering to each other, and it looks like he says something, and Flavia gives me a thumbs up as Chrom writes at a snail's pace.

" _Basillo had already said two days ago that he and Flavia would lead a head on assault, but you were not actually... Nevermind. You know why you couldn't be informed. As to why Frederick stormed out, he has been getting angry quicker than usual because of what happened to Emm. He feels responsible."_

Well, that's two problems down. I stare unblinking at the maps before me, finding small marks made before.

' _That is where Princey believes the Plegian Army is, if you decide to join the Plegians, just say the word, and I'll show you where they are,'_ the voice bribes, so I shut it up.

I decide to use Chrom's placement for my strategy. So I draw two small squares near to where Chrom believes Gangrel to be.

" _If we wait between those two squares, if your presumption on where Gangrel is staying is correct, then we should be within a stone's throw from them, so we can attack be defending or attack when ready."_

Chrom looks up from reading over my shoulder and nods.

" _So, what is our situation with supplies?"_

I see his face fall. He takes the book. A moment later he hands it back, _"Well, Miriel and Ricken both need new spellbooks, Sumia broke her lance while we were marching, Cordelia lost our four javelins during the battle before last, Panne's Beaststone shattered, Nowi insists that her Dragonstone is nearing the end of its life. Everyone else's weapons are close to being of no use, except for Tharja, but she uses dark magic, which no one else can use, that we know of. Lissa's and Maribelle's staves stopped working, but Libra had an extra one, and wants to know when she can give it to one of them. The only two weapons that seem to be fine are your sword and Falchion."_

I pull out my three spellbooks that were sitting in my pockets, _"Have Libra give HIS staff to Maribelle, and give the Elthunder tome to your sister, I think she's ready to learn spellcraft. Give Elfire to Miriel, she's the best fire mage we have, and Elwind to Ricken. See if we have an extra sword to give to Panne, and have Gaius teach her how to fight like him. Her speed would make good use of that style. Find another sword and give to Cordelia, and have Cordelia give her lance to Sumia. For the record, my sword's name is Fellblade. See if that girl you've been sitting with around the fire knows how to fight, she could be helpful."_

Chrom's face falls when he finishes reading and tears out the pages for that conversation. He walks out of the Battle Tent of Strategy with the three spellbooks and paper. Once he leaves, Basillo walks out following him, and Flavia walks over, taking the small book and starts writing. I shoo her away as I stare at the maps until the book in placed in my direct line of sight.

" _Robin, I've been meaning to speak with you. After this war is over, I was wondering if you would like to join my family in Ferox. I could use you for you tactical genius, and I could help you learn to function in society without having to constantly look over your shoulder for other people. I've spoken with Chrom on this, and he said that as long as you could remain his tactician in times of war, that I could ask this of you."_

" _I have work to do, leave me alone,"_ I write before throwing the book across the tent.

It looks like she laughs, as she walks over to grab the book.

' _Okay, so if you flank here, you Robin, will die, they have traps set almost directly on the location you are planning on going to yet . Send Chrom and Lissa to flank, and you will be safe,'_ the voice says with legitimate concern, _'If you die, there will be no more fun to be had.'_

I chuckle a bit, only to get the thin book obstructing my view, _"I can't have you either of us dying before I can get your services. Plus, you can join my family if you accept."_

" _What do you mean by join your family? I don't want to marry anyone at the moment,"_ I write as I hand the book back to her.

' _So, you don't want to marry the Candy Thief? He would've worked nicely, but maybe time will change your view.'_

' _Ugh!'_

" _Well, I wasn't planning on asking to marry you, but to ask if you wanted to be my sister. I had thought you were getting quite close with the orange haired fellow, but oh well. So, what's your answer on joining my family?"_

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 **Well, that's the chapter. I hope you guys/girls/peoples liked it. I know it was mostly fluff, and I added a condensed C, B and A support conversation in there, but oh well. Anywho, Happy New Year, and I will see you for the next update. Have a good Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Night or whatever time it is for you.**

 **Bye.~**

 **Karii Lynne**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Well, sorry for the cliffhanger, stopping in the middle of a conversation isn't the nicest thing to do. Anyways, here is right where we left off, enjoy.**

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I think for a moment before shaking my head furiously. I scramble to grab the small book, and to write my answer legibly, _"Flavia, I refuse to join your family, I don't even know you, so you expect me to instantly decide to become so close to you I want to be your sister? I don't think so."_

Almost instantly, my head slams against the sandy ground, jostling something as my head bounces off the ground. My jaw feels askew, as blood slowly seeps out of my lips. The pain is indescribable as my entire upper body is in pain. I can't see anything clearly, but I do notice the drab beige of the Battle Tent of Strategy suddenly changes to a very like blue, then again to beige. What feels like years of confusion later, I see a greenish blur somewhere to my side. I groggily turn my head and see two figures, one of them pink. As the green blur is there, my vision begins to clear and my jaw straightens out and as if someone broke it again I feel more pain than before I fell. Realizing that I'm in the Medical Tent, I look around, noticing that Maribelle is arguing with what appears to be a shame ridden Flavia.

' _We need to make sure she gets paid back for what she did,'_ the voice says, and I can't help but agree. I'll mad and in pain, I don't like feeling either of those.

Eventually, I see Flavia walking out of the tent, and Maribelle reaching out to stroke my face. I roll my head away, and only then do I feel the excess of pain I have created. I see Maribelle moving her lips, I can only guess she is talking, so I simply close my eyes and sleep.

I open my eyes to see nothing but a faint candlelight and darkness.

' _Get a move on, get moving before either the stalker or the prissy noble get back. They'll just fuss over you, and won't let you move. Go back to your tent, you can cause a choke point there, so they are all forced to face you one on one so you can take them all down.'_ The voice suggests its violent streak more apparent than before.

Going back to my tent can't be that bad, or hard. The first step I take off the bed causes me to slam into the ground. I groan in pain as I push myself off the ground to come face to face withal done that isn't very happy. I groan again as he lifts me and sets me back on the cot. I sit up and he pushes me down again. This cycle repeats several times before I give moments after giving up, he drops a small bag next to me. I reach my hand inside and the first thing my hand touches I pluck out of there, eyeing in to figure out what it was. It smells sweet, and has a deep brown color. I see Gaius grab one himself and toss it in his mouth. Following his example, I take a tentative bite, loving the flavor immediately. How he manages to get sweets during a time where we can't get supplies amazes me, but I don't really care at the moment. I close the bag, and move it out of his reach as he attempts to grab another. I smile at him, and he smiles back. After pocketing the bag, I step off the cot again, and hobble out of the tent using Fellblade as a crutch, which really just hurries itself into the sand with each step. I really hate it in the Medical Tent. He walks next to me, and instead of redirecting me back to my cot, he sighs and loops his arm through mine, and I leaned against him for support, as he takes me back to my tent. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see a few people gawking, but I shrug it off, people will think what they will. Some time later, I am at my tent and I wave goodbye to Gaius, and I roll onto my bedroll and fall asleep.

I'm shaken awake by a very angry Maribelle. I groan before she hands me the thin book, which I presume has a very long lengthy paragraph about leaving the Medical Tent without alerting anyone. I look at the book, picking out a few words not really reading, _"Idiot... How dare you... What were you thinking... You need to apologize... Had us worried sick..."_ Yadda yada yada.

I resist the urge of writing back something along the lines of, _"I frankly don't care,"_ but I manage to just insist that I'm fine and leave it at that. Everything is much clearer today, and I can stand without problem, so I decide to leave my tent, with an angry Maribelle in tow. As I walk by, I see people clutching their heads, noticing that they take care to cover their ears.

I walk up the Battle Tent of Strategy and turn to Maribelle, who looks like she's screaming as she writes. I steal the book way from her, smile and walk in. Once I walk in, Flavia intercepts me on my way to the battle maps, grabbing my still achey face, and pats me on the head before moving off to the side. I see Chrom and Frederick look at me in shock. I shrug it off, and begin writing some notes That the dark voice had given me the day before, in the thin book. I added a few thinngs that I deem important.

" _... So Chrom, I want you fighting Gangrel, you with rage might be a good idea, and if that pink haired girlfriend of yours can fight, have her join you. I want Frederick and Sully to ride around the enemy with Stahl and Panne, and they can attack from the rear. Have Vaike and Nowi will be the small brute squad to attack them from the middle of their army. Sumia and Cordelia need to pick up MIriel and Tharja and keep them airborne for any possible Wyvern Riders. Ricken will be Mairbelle's personal guard, so that she and Libra can go about healing at their heart's content. Lon'qu will pair up with Lissa, while I fill in any lacking places. Gaius, Gregor and Virion secure and maintain a safe retreat possibility, just in case something happens like last time."_

Chrom nods while he reads, mouthing as he goes along, which causes Frederick to nod as well. This brings a smile to my face, which in turn hurts my face so I stop, but I notice that Chrom is smiling as well.

Chrom writes a response before handing back the book, _"Well due to your, incident, we are behind schedule, so we leave before dawn tomorrow, so, get some sleep, and next time, don't leave the Med Tent without getting permission, you scared Maribelle and Lissa pretty bad."_

I only nod in reply, pocketing the book and leaving the tent. Maribelle is still outside, mouth still moving.

I ignore her, finding the Mess Tent to grab several rolls and sit around where I remember having a fire a few days earlier. I more I front of the log fun actually on it, as I pull out Mark's Book of Tactics from my pocket. I had forgotten that it was one of very few things that was in my possession in the battle that Emmeryn died. If I had decided to leave this book with Kellam instead, I might actually have actually have been able to help with communications. I really need to work with Miriel on a way to formulate a way of communication, maybe when this wasr is over.

I sit, snacking on rolls and the brown candies Gaius gave me, while reading about battling on ships, and how attack styles need to change when doing so. The words are still a bit blurry, so I just pay more attention to the book than what is happening around me. When the sky begins to turn orange, so one from behind grabs my shoulders, and begins squeezing them, only to relieve the pressure, to apply the pressure again. I tense up and flail out of their grasp to see Tharja kneeling behind sure I was not a moment ago. She smiles sheepishly, before leaving to another place.

' _She only has good intentions, which cover her not good intentions, but you can trust her you know.'_ the voice says, but I feel inclined to ignore it.

Stifling a yawn, I walk back to my tent, and sleep.

I wake up to being carried and a lack of a campsite, and a bit of light in my eyes. I flail a little bit, only to land on the ground. I groan as I begin to push myself up, but am picked up again and placed on my feet. I look to the helper to see Libra. I smile and nod in thanks, only to have him say something, then begin looking bad, saying another thing, then hitting his forehead with his palm. I just smile, shaking my hand as I leave it limp, hoping he'd stop looking like he's feeling bad. He smiles, and I smile back, only to hurt my face again, which I realize with a wince. He gives a warming smile as e hands me a small blue bottle. He points at me, then pantomimes drinking, so I swallow some of the drink, and I gag on it. It tastes very much like Sully's carrot soup, with a hint of sugar. Not a good combination. Libra chuckles as my jaw stops aching, and I can chuckle as well. I smile, only to have Chrom walk up, pointing out on the horizon. The Plegian Army.

' _This is where the fun begins.'_

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 **Well, there is the next chapter, it and out sooner than I thought, but I'm happy. I'm sorry thT this chapter doesn't have the action that the next one will have, but you can see some supports happening. I apologize for the amount of time Robin spent sleeping in this chapter, but that s what I would suspect when you have a concussion that breaks your jaw. I know that typically you shouldn't sleep when you have a concussion, but A) They probably don't know that, B) You just shouldnLt sleep for more than four hours without disturbance, otherwise you may not wake up again. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter,, Well, have a good morning, afternoon, evening, night or whatever time it happens to be for you.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait when it comes to this chapter, and if I missed some reviews. Fanfiction dot Net was having problems with authors reading reviews. Anyways, here is the (probably) long anticipated chapter with the fight against Gangrel. Enjoy.**

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Before the battle even begins, the majority of the Plegians soldiers lay down their weapons, and flee as fast as they can.

' _Traitors! Deserters! They must be struck down for their lack of loyalty, one by one, let their blood seep into the sandy ground, each one making us stronger.'_ The voice commands, each word piercing my head, _'Cut down the priest, cut down the cleric, cut down the troubadour. The survivors will slowly die, bring an end to their miserable lives.'_

I notice Chrom speaking to the rest of the Shepherds, as I see them raise their weapons in glory and my guess, in hopes of survival as well. It appears he finishes his speech, and everyone charges for their own individual duties. So the plan begins.

Surprisingly, the sand isn't much of a problem as it had been the last few battles. Our miniature calvary runs around, what I can guess, soft spots in the sand beneath, as they charge around to flank the enemy. I watch Nowi take off with Vaike on her back, only for them to land a little bit into the enemy force with a massive cloud of sand.

Blood runs in streams down Fellblade. Oddly, I remember more blood on the blade, but I shrug as I cut down the enemy. The fighting stops for a moment, and I realize, blood is actually pooling on the sandy ground. I look down at myself, addressing my condition. My cloak is ripped in several places, blood soaking through the fabric. Oddly, I only now begin to feel the pain that accompanied each cut, each ounce of missing blood. I grab out the vial Libra had given me before, and take another drink. It tastes the same as before, but the only sensation I feel is flesh sewing itself back together, which hurts worse than getting the wound in the first place. The pain of healing stops me, every function now focusing on not passing out.

Several moments pass before I can actually move again, only to realize, all that was left is Gangrel and Chrom's battle. Lightning flies through the air, bring even my hair on end. The pink haired girl, Olivia I believe, dances around Gangrel, attacking when he least expects it, despite the fact that it must not hurt that much, but Chrom and Gangrel hack and slash against each other, sending bolts of lightning into the surrounding sand, creating patches of glass.. Olivia's style of attacking seems familiar, but I shrug it off, only to see Chrom behead Gangrel. I stand here, shocked, as I watch his head roll, and the body collapse to the ground. I turn when someone prods me in the side, right where I had just recently healed a wound, causing me to wince in pain. I probably yelp along with the wince, as I felt my mouth move, but I don't actually care.

I turn to see Lissa, flapping her mouth so fast that I doubt anyone could tell what she's saying. I look her in the eye, raising my eyebrow, and she immediately stops, and does the same face slapping gesture that Libra had done earlier today. I chuckle, and hand her the thin book, The Book of Little Communication, along with a pen. I watch her write, the ink skipping places in her writing.

Lissa writes for several minutes, before handing me The Book of Little Communication, and running off, _"I can't believe Chrom actually did that, I mean, such a cruel way to kill someone. I mean, I knew Chrom was going to kill Gangrel, but I had thought that he would at least give him a chance at redemption instead of showing no mercy, I guess I may not be the best at foretelling what people will do. Anyways, now that the war is over, what are your plans for your life now? I mean, you don't know anyone besides the Shepherds, and adding to the fact that you're not able to hear, that could make it really hard to move elsewhere. I have a feeling that Chrom wouldn't mind you living in Castle Ylisse, at least until you manage to find another place, or you might me able to take your old room at the barracks. Well, I'm going to go talk to Chrom about this, but let me know your plans as soon as possible, okay?"_

I smile at Lissa's concern as well as her generosity. I stand there thinking for a moment, before turning and seeing Chrom on one knee before Olivia. So she was his girlfriend all along. I give a warm hearted sigh, and turn and walk the other way, pacing through the sand. Tharja intercepts me, grabbing my arm, and leading me towards the other Shepherds, who are crowding Chrom and Olivia. Chrom begins talking, so I walk over to the side, and sit down and look at the setting sun. For the first time that I remember, I feel peace, and despite everyone behind me, I feel alone, but instead of how I felt earlier that week, it is a good alone. I sit, and stare, and I don't notice at first when some people sit down to join me. First, it is Chrom, Olivia, Lissa and Frederick, then a moment later, Tharja joins. One by one, the other Shepherds sit down, yet oddly enough, I don't see Gaius anywhere. I shrug it off..

' _They are all going to die by your hand you know. I'll make sure of it.'_

I shake my head in defiance.

' _I am stronger than you think Robin, with everyday, I gain a little more strength. Whether it is tomorrow, or several years from now, I will guarantee they will all fall, and their blood will soak into Fellblade. I will be sure to have it all start with the ones you care about most. Just you wait.'_

Dazed, Tharja drags me away to follow the leaving Shepherds, as she loops her arm around mine, and I pry it free. Yet today, she smiles as we follow this routine, and I can't help but to follow suit.

Hours pass before we stop at a tavern, and all the Shepherds barge their way inside. I walk in the back, hoping not to be trampled through this endeavor. Once inside, I sit at the bar, on one of the closest stools to the door. Once I enter, I see Chrom slide several large gold chunks across the counter to a very fat woman. She looks familiar, red hair, and her index finger never leaving her face. She nods furiously as she pockets the gold, her mouth seems to be watering as faint lines of drool can be seen out of the corners of her mouth, as she shoos Chrom away. I laugh at her reaction to the money.

Several moments later, I see six thin versions of the bartender walking around with platters with assorted drinks on them, handing them to specific people. The fat one walks in front of me, and starts moving her mouth. I stare at her with a confused look on my face. She moves her mouth again, slower this time, but I shrug in response, still with the same confused look. She looks to the other Shepherds, and moves her mouth again, and a few seconds later she nods, looking back at me, pointing at her ear with her other hand. I simply shake my head, thinking she was referring to my inability to hear. She shrugs, before making a drink and handing it to me. I take a sip before gagging on the burning taste that followed the original bitter flavor. She laughs in my misery when Tharja walks up, staring the red head in the eye. I see the look of fear in the bartender's eyes rise as Tharja moves her mouth and the bartender nods, taking back the drink and replacing it with something similar, yet not as thick, as the cream Maribelle uses in her tea, milk I believe. I look at Tharja, and give her a smile, and a very noticeable blush runs across her pale face.

Taking this time to ask Tharja a question I have been wanting to ask, I pull out The Book of Little Communication, and flip to the last, and only page that is not filled with text, _"Why do you insist on taking my arm whenever we march?"_

I stare at Tharja as she reads, the blush growing deeper as she reads, she quickly scrawls back, _"Well, there are a few different meanings, but the most common meaning is the Plegian Custom of leading those that are disabled to where they need to go, but typically, if the disabled is as bad off such as yourself, meaning unable to survive on their own without another's help, or not being able to work, their destination is to the Burning Pits, where they will be executed and die a very painful death. There are other meanings, but it appears I'm out of paper."_

Sure enough, Tharja's writing is crammed at the end. I sigh, and put the book away, and go back to drinking my milk. Two hours pass, Tharja has downed about twenty of whatever her dink is, and I look around the room. Cordelia seems to have been crying, Chrom and Olivia have disappeared, Gaius still not in sight, and everyone else is having trouble standing, yet none are worse off than Tharja, who immediately falls after getting off her stool. I pick her up, and sit her down again, as I walk around the tavern and find a sheet of paper filled out by someone earlier in the night. The top is labeled with, _"Tavern Room Assignments."_

I pick it up, and search for may name, as well as Tharja's. Rooms thirteen and fourteen, how convenient. I walk back to where I left Tharja, who has long fallen asleep, and pick her up and carry her to room fourteen. I open the door, and deposit Tharja on her bed, as she moves her mouth slightly. I shrug, noticing the rooms have a door connecting the two. I pass by, making sure it is locked, and I close Tharja's door, and walk inside my room, and wedge the chair under the door connect my room to Tharja's, shrug off my coat, and lay down on the bed and fall asleep.

The sun shines in my eyes. I sit up, and grab my stuff, unwedge the doors, and leave. Once in the hall, I see Frederick staggering around, leaning against the wall. I laugh at the sight of an incapacitated Frederick, as I head downstairs to the bar area. Once down there, I see Gaius for the first time before the battle yesterday. He hands me another bag, probably with candy, takes my arm, and leads me outside. I eat a few of the tiny brown milky squares as he stands there, noticeably breathing hard. A moment later, he hands me a book, that has a small thing piece of string attached to the top, most likely for the purpose of a bookmark. I reach for the book, but he holds it back, something silver dangling off the end of the bookmarking string. I look at the circular metal, then give Gaius a questioning look. He gives me a smile, and hands the the book. I open it to the page with the bookmark.

" _Robin, I have a proposition for you. It is your choice of whichever you want, but I have two options. Option one, you stop blackmailing me, and I make sure you are happy for the rest of your life, or option two. You stop blackmailing me, go to Regna Ferox and take Flavia's offer to help you cope with living in non-wartime, and you take this ring, and promise me that you will marry me once you get back."_

I look at the page, and back at Gaius, who has raised an eyebrow, a huge hopeful smile on his face. I smile back. I grab my pen from my pocket, write my answer, the ink completely dying out, so I throw the pen into the ground, bury it with my foot, and hand the book back to Gaius. He reads the sentence, mouthing it aloud.

I look at the book to read it again, _"I can't chose one without the other, so why not both?"_

' _Now, I know who will be the first to die.'_ the voice says.

The rest of the Shepherds pack up, and we head back to Ylisse.

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 **So, about the fat Anna for bartender, I decided to take a page out of my friend's view of a medieval tavern person, they were apparently all homely and fat, so, mix that with the fact that a lot of the merchants in Fire Emblem are versions of Anna, then you get Barkeep!Anna, who just happens to be a fat lady. I also decided to go sappy on the marriage proposal, so sue me if you didn't like it. Anyways, the next chapter should encompass the entire two year skip, but I'm not quite sure yet. Well, have a good morning, evening, afternoon, night, or whatever time it happens to be for you at the moment.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: Well this update happened a lot faster than anticipated. Well, to not keep you from the story, enjoy.**

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Walking through Ylisstol with the rest of the Shepherds gives me the feeling of home, but judging that this is the only place I've lived, that would be a safe assumption that this place is my home. In the crowds, I see the woman that used to go by Marth. She seems to be extremely happy. I wave at her, and she waves back, and disappears behind several other people. I walk, leaning on Gaius, as we head for the barracks. Once inside, Maribelle looks at my torn coat, yanks it off of me, hands me my books, and takes the coat off somewhere near her room, a horrified look on her face the entire time. I make my way to my room, but Gaius pulls me back for a hug and a kiss, and waves me off. I walk into my room, nostalgia hitting me hard. I lay on the cot, getting more comfort than ever out of the piece of furniture. I place my books on the desk next to me, and decide to take a nap.

Someone jostles me awake, and with instinct, I take Fellblade, and swipe it in the way as I roll over. I open my eyes to see Lissa shocked at my attack, so I smile sheepishly, and set down Fellblade.I walk across the room, grab The Book of Communication Volume Two, and a fresh pen from my desk, and hand both of them to Lissa. She hesitates as she takes the book, and sits down in the chair, as I sit on the cot. She writes for a moment, and hands the book back to me.

 _"There is a celebration for our victory in a week, the Royal Wedding in two weeks, and since I've known you, you don't own any dresses, so Chrom has heavily suggested that Maribelle and I take you out to get you appropriate clothing for both a wedding and the dinner, along with a party with nobles from all around Ylisse. We can't have someone dressed for battle in a case like that. So, take off your gloves, and let's go dress shopping."_

I groan, and I lay back down, as Lissa attempts to drag me from my cot, _'Robin, go with them, just bring Fellblade if they keep you out too long. I even believe Maribelle has finished with your coat, so you may even get that back.'_

I groan again, as I sit up, take The Book of Communication , a pen and head out the door. Back in the main room, Maribelle walks up to us, and hands me my coat again, no bloodstains, no indication of fabric even tearing. I smile in thanks, as head for my doom.

Finding myself a dress was much shorter than I thought it would be. I still detest the act of shopping, and I rather fight the entire Plegian Army again than ever go again. Oddly enough, Lissa found a dress, that shared the same symbol that rests on my right hand, it's even the same color. The task of finding Lissa and Maribelle dresses kills me. I sit down, and start bashing my head into the wall, praying to any deity that this will end soon, only to be told, _'Robin, this will all end soon. You need to keep your head intact if we plan on continuing with living, so please, stop hitting your head, it's far too precious.'_

Soon enough, the two royals finish their shopping, I have a moderately sized bruise on my forehead, and night has fallen. As we walk, I feel someone watching us, but the feeling stops when Lissa pokes my bruised forehead, making me wince in pain. I see them make a detour into another store, so I walk faster than them, losing them in the city, when someone pokes my shoulder.

I turn to see Tharja, she smiles, and I hand her The Book of Communication and one of my pens, and sit down on one of the benches next to a lantern. She hands the book back, _"Robin, I have loved you since I have first met you, and I know that you have recently become involved with Gaius, but I'm wondering if you would break that off. I know you better than anyone else, so, please. I want to make sure that you are happy, because when you are happy, I'm happy."_

I stare at the page, not exceptionally surprised, but still at a loss for words. I fumble before finding the right words, _"Tharja, if that is truly how you feel, then I can say a few things. You and I can only remain friends, if you could even consider us that, as long as your feelings remain platonic, because I don't want to over complicate things. If you really are happy when I'm happy, then you need to realize that I am going to be happy with Gaius, so I really think you need to rethink the last part, because if you aren't happy right now, then I don't think you will be later. I'm sorry, and I really hope we can be friends after this."_

Tears well up in her eyes, and she runs off after handing my book back, _'Robin, you do know that you could've gone easy on the girl, rejection is hard enough, but the way you said it... I'm ashamed to be in your head.'_

The party is quite boring. Due to the lack of pockets in a party dress, The Book of Communication lays on my desk back in the barracks, and I foolishly wave at people that come up to me. Each one tries to communicate, only for Gaius to tell them of my problem, and they leave. Other people merely begin walking up, see either my uncomfortably exposed hand, my dress, or both, and walk away to talk to either Lissa or Chrom. So, I sit in the back of the room during the speeches, eating candy that Gaius gives me.

 _'This important for you Robin, every moment here builds patience, and patience is key when planning. Have fun.'_

Chrom and Olivia's wedding isn't much better than the victory party the week prior. I stand on Olivia's side of the alter, staring at the blank expressions of everyone. The only one teared up is Cordelia, but she hasn't been herself since we won. I shrug, standing awkwardly, not knowing when anything was happening, or what exactly was happening. What feels like hours later, Sumia and Olivia push me into a crowd with every other female attendee, and Olivia tosses the bouquet of flowers, something completely idiotic to begin with. What is the point of flowers at a wedding anyways? Seconds later, the bouquet slams its way into my head, and instinctively I catch it before it hits the ground. I look around, everyone seems to know something that I don't, each one giving me a suggestive smile.

 _'Good job Robin, if the superstition means anything, then this will prove useful for the both of us.'_

I'm leaving today for Regna Ferox with my "sister", Flavia. so I say goodbye to the Shepherds. As a goodbye gift, Chrom has gotten a fur lined version of my coat made for the winter in Ferox. He wrote that it was styled after my old coat, yet improved for both the frigid weather in Ferox, and for a recently made rank, Grandmaster Tactician, which will apparently become a huge honor in Ylisse. Gaius have me twice my weight in what he calls chocolate, the milky candy I had been eating earlier. Other than a few tiny mementos from the others, Miriel informs me that by the time I get back, her research should be done for a "Pivotal Achievement in Science." Shrugging this off, quite confused about what she's thinking about, I bid my farewells, and join my "sister" in the journey to Regna Ferox. Along the way, we make several stops at shops, picking up swords, axes and tomes. I get a freshly written Thoron, that the author decided to increase the potency and lasting ability of the spell, one cannot simply refuse a tome that well crafted.

 _'Yes, Thoron, the spell of an electric javelin, perfect for for some plans in the future, correct?'_

I flop onto my bed, every muscle in my body aching. Flavia's workouts are worse than Frederick's, and one would think you'd get used to the taxing regimine after six months, but the answer is no, still just as bad as the first day. The only foreseeable benefit of the training is that I'm learning the fighting style that Flavia insists is superior than my personal style. Every day, we train, then we work on the, "Fundamentals of Speech." Apparently, I sound like a dying animal, but the maids still understand the four words I can manage to "say," go, stop, yes and no. Learning to talk is extremely weird, requiring me to study how the tongue moves to form words, and getting the throat to make the right movements to make sound. After working on speech, we then work on "Tactical Hand Symbols," which are basic, but people need to understand what they mean. I get letters from everyone back in Ylisse, about every week. The most memorable was from Chrom about two weeks ago.

 _"Robin, we have great news. Olivia is with child, and is due in a few months. We would really appreciate it if you were to be here for the event, and oddly enough, Olivia suggested that you were to give the child a name. She feels that you went to Regna Ferox because you don't trust anyone here, other than Gaius of course. It would mean the world to us if you could come back and visit. Lissa and Lon'qu got married a few days ago, and Maribelle and Libra's is in another week or two. My guess is that Virion's and Cordelia's won't be too far off from anyone else's. Also, Miriel's project will be done soon, so don't be afraid to come back. Chrom"_

I fold up the note and place it on the nightstand, _'Sleep little one, you'll need it,'_ and for the first time, in a long time at least, I listen to the voice.

The smell of Ylisse is great in the springtime. Learning that it is beneficial to stop and smell the roses, I mostly wander on my way to the barracks. When I'm not staring out into the grassy sea, I see Flavia chuckling, my guess either from something that Basillo told her, or my reaction to anything that isn't the bleakness that is snow. I walk into the barracks, and before I can see the other side of the door, someone tackles me in a massive hug, picks me up and spins me around. I see the familiar orange hair that I missed during my time in Ferox. I laugh for a moment before my stomach lurches, and I manage to say stop. Gaius immediately stops, and looks me in the eye with an extremely confused look on his face. I smile back, and hand him The Book of Communication.

 _"Did you just say stop, or did you yelp and I imagined that you said stop?"_

I give him a bigger smile, and he laughs, with what appears to be joy. He takes the book back, writing another thing, _"What other words can you say?"_

I stop for a moment, making sure I get the right movements down, and say each word with a moment between each of the four words, making sure I get them right. I see the other Shepherds start coming out, and Gaius hugs me tighter, and begins spinning me again. I say stop again, which causes him to somehow squeeze harder and spin faster, everything now a blur of color. He stops, and I can't stand up straight, immediately leaning against him for support, the room still spinning.

 _'He's not really happy for you, he just wants you to stop because he thinks you sound terrible. He doesn't want you talking anymore, keep that in mind.'_

I sit in a chair in the hallway of Castle Ylisse. The Royal Heir has been born for all of forty minutes now, and Chrom believes this a good time for the baby to receive a name from her "Godmother," whatever that means. Chrom drags me into the room, and I see Olivia holding the crying baby. I make note of the book next to the bed is open, pen at the ready. I walk up to it and read, _"Well Robin, what is her name?"_

I stare at the baby for a moment, the face reminding me of someone all to familiar. She looks like a younger, way younger, version of the woman who went by the name of Marth, which in reality, was just the name of her ancestor. I write the real name of the blue haired woman, and hand the book to Chrom. I see him mouth the name slowly, either saying it to his wife, or just telling himself. I wave, turn and leave the room.

 _'Lucina, really Robin, you could've done so much better. I can't wait to see what you'd name your own kids, pray tell me that the names will be better than Lucina.'_

I just smile, shrug and head to the barracks where Miriel has something set up for me.

I step into a dimly lit room everything about it telling me to leave as soon as possible. Miriel points at at a table of sorts, a note written on it, _"Lay down."_

I listen to the note, and lay down on the table, and wait there. A moment later, Miriel stabs small golden rods into my ears, gaining a scream from her patient. She grabs a book from somewhere, writing something and handing the book to me.

 _"Are you ready to hear?"_

I nod, _'Robin, don't get your hopes up. this isn't going to work, no matter how much you want it to.,'_ I ignore the voice.

Seconds pass before I fell a pain unlike any other, coursing through my head until it feels like it will explode. The pain stops for but a moment, before the pain comes again, and again, and again, several times before I lose consciousness.

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 **Well, I hope you liked that chapter. If you have any questions comments and/or concerns just let me know whether through Private Message or through a review. For the record, the next chapter will be a few months after the end of this one, and will pick up at the chapter "The Seacomers." Well, Good morning, afternoon, evening, night, or whatever time it happens to be for you at the moment.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	15. Chapter 15

I slowly sit up, my entire essence complaining against the movement, my head throbbing in moments of moderate pain and severe pain. I clench my teeth together, and squeeze my head in hopes that the pressure will alleviate some of the unbearable pain.

 _'I warned you Robin, now you need to live with your consequences,'_ the voice says, treating me as a child. I sit there squeezing my head for a few more moments before it replies, _'Fine, I'll help you out a little. Don't take this as forgiveness for hurting the both of us.'_

With those words, the pain fades just enough to open my eyes and to think. I look around, and notice, I'm in a completely new room. I turn to stand, _'Don't you dare stand up. Robin, lay back down and sleep, it will be the best thing for you.'_

Through a vast amount of idiocy, I stand up, and make my way across the room. The second I stand, I collapse onto the ground, the pain in my head just as bad, if not worse, as it had been before. _'I told you not to get up Robin.'_

I lay there for an unknown amount of time, and someone picks me up, and sets me back on the bed, and I manage to fall asleep.

The same thing happens over the next few days until, it all just stops. I sit up, and turn to stand up, and wait for approval. Since the voice doesn't protest, I stand up, and walk out of the room. I turn the doorknob, it is completely silent.

 _'Now Robin, the question is, are all doors this quiet, or no?"_ The voice seems amused.

I shrug, and continue out the door. I slowly walk around, quite lost in the building, as I find my way into a great hall, up, raised be several steps, in the back of the massive room, there rests two chairs, each decorated with that mark on Chrom's arm. I walk throughout the hall, making it outside to the front entrance. I smile at the smell the calm outside, and of the not stuffy outside air. MIraculously, I make it to the barracks without running into anyone. I open the door, this one silent as well. Doubt begins to rise. I see everyone staring at me, everyone of them seems to be surprised to see me. I wave at them, and they skeptically wave back. I shrug this off, and walk to the mess hall, as I realize my stomach needs food. I walk into the room, making note that Stahl sits in the corner eating. I find several pieces of what appear to be meat, and rolls.

I fill one of the plates with half a dozen rolls, as they are my favorite food, and take a piece of the mystery meat, and sit down and begin eating.

 _'Don't you find it odd that still, no noise comes from anything? Is this just coincidence, or is it due to a lack of ability? I know the answer, but the question is, do you?'_

I stop eating at once, with a sudden loss of appetite, _'So tell me, do you believe that this is merely coincidence, or is it because of a lack of ability? You can say the correct word, correct? What is the answer, yes or no?'_

I reply to the voice, and no sound. I stand up and leave, nausea filling up the remaining space in my stomach, and I walk back to my room, lock the door, and lay down on my cot.

 _'It's okay Robin, I informed you that you shouldn't get your hopes up immediately before the experiment, but if you play with fire, you'll get yourself burned. Deep down, you knew this wasn't going to work out anyway, but it seems Lissa optimism has rubbed off on you, correct? You'll be fine, just know that, and try to forget what happened. Just do as I say next time, I have your best interests at heart. So, stop crying, sit in here as long as you need. Stahl has probably already told everyone that you left suddenly, I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't heard you say no, I imagine you need to work on volume control,'_ I smile at the voice's last comment, _'If you need something to occupy your thoughts, you can always go train, or you can teach yourself a better way of mixing both magic and swordplay through a style called, "Ignis." That could be fun, right?'_

I nod, something seems to be stuck in my throat, and I sit on my cot, using a white rag I found in a drawer to start cleaning my blood stained sword. Hours pass, the smell of blood replaces the smell of dust, and the smell of baked bread catches my attention. I turn my head towards my door, seeing an envelope halfway on this side, the other half still under the door. I set Fellblade carefully down on the cot, and grab the note and set it on my desk, and the smell of bread lingers and fades altogether.

I open the letter, revealing a letter, _"Robin, my most sincere apologies go out to for the apparent excruciating pain I put you through in the name of Scientific Discovery. It seems that the amount of power I used was a bit too much to actually work, but the news that will probably hurt the most, I can't fix it anymore. My calculations seem to have added a zero, causing the amount of electrical resistance I believed a person to have to be much more than what is actually there. According to Maribelle, it was a miracle you managed to survive, but from my speculation however, it seemed something was a barrier, keeping you from dying, and then giving you the pain of death over the following weeks. I have theories, but none of them solid enough to share or explain well enough at the moment. I can only hope you don't have any resentment towards me nor the goal I attempted to achieve. Your acquaintance, Miriel"_

I stare blankly at the paper for a while, slumping back in my chair, and I set the letter down on the desk, and begin cleaning Fellblade again, _'Well Robin, I find this to be a great opportunity to cross a name off the list I have created, and Miriel's name has recently become the topmost name. My congratulations to her, and my apologies to you. If you listen to me, I can help you out in ways that if you were able to hear, I wouldn't be able to help, the background noise of life is much too loud for those that hear to know of my presence. So, finish cleaning Fellblade, and go to sleep, I can help you out with Ignis in the morning.'_

I nod, and do as the voice asks. Sleep finding me oddly quickly.

I walk through the middle of town, until I find the tome shop. Chrom informed me this morning that due to my increase in status and rank, any purchase I make from local shops will immediately be seen as a royal purchase, meaning that it will be taken in one lump sum at another time. The voice asks me to make use of this, so I oblige. Once inside the tome shop, I walk into the back of the store, where they have some of the more complex tomes. I stand and stare at the assortment that I picked out, Arcfire, Arcwind, Arcthunder and dark magic tome called Waste.

 _'Waste would be the best of our options we have now, power wise, but it might help to use a spell that you are more familiar with, namely a tome in the Thunder Family, now, if only they had Mjölnir, as that tome is your birthright, but we can make due with any lightning based tome, take your pick.'_

Feeling as I had been told which to use, I set the tomes back, save the Arcthunder, and write a note for the shopkeeper, hand him the note, and leave. No one chases me, so I figure I'm okay. I walk back towards the barracks, where the fun will begin.

I sit on the ground in front of Fellblade which arcs lightning to absorb the essence of Arcthunder. The arcing stops, _'Don't touch it yet Robin, leave and lock your door, go eat. Once you get back, destroy all evidence of this, using making an Ignis in Ylisse is taboo, but in Plegia however, it is something people of only high skill can pull off, especially because dark magic tends to be a bit unpredictable, but it is where the fabled sword, Runesword comes from. I believe you've read about it in that one book you read, the one written by Mark. Supposedly, he was a master at Ignis, making Runesword after Runesword, and for theorizing the creation of the Levin Sword. The only problem with the two of those swords is that physically, both of those swords are weak, causing them to be brittle and of little use. Since we used Fellblade, a reinforced Armorslayer, the physical strength should be amazing, while as long as someone as skilled with thunder magic as you, the magical power should be more powerful than a Levin Sword.'_

I nod, leaving and locking my door. I walk down the hallway down to the mess hall. As I walk, a question goes through my head, why haven't Flavia and I left Ylisse yet? Weren't we supposed to have left for Ferox a few days ago? I shrug, seeing no one anywhere.

The Mess Hall is full of food, platters of it, and right outside lies rows of bags, all identical to those that Gaius has given me over the last several months. Each one has candy inside, starting with his bear shaped hard candies. The first type of candy he gave me. I smile, grabbing the next bag, which has the same candy inside. Several bags have the same, before I notice the next set of bags has canteens full of that honey water he made me. Then cream filled cakes, and finally chocolate. I grab the last bag, seeing a copy of the book he gave me when he purposed. I open the book, both his options and my answer written in the front, and the next page merely says, _"Wedding Script."_

" _Robin walks into the training grounds. Robin is handed a bouquet of flowers by Nowi. Robin is lead to the massive windows by Flavia. Robin meets Gaius at windows. Libra begins talking, Robin staring dreamily at Gaius. Gaius steps on Robin's foot so she knows when to say yes. Gaius says yes, which Robin won't notice. Gaius squeezes Robin's hand, and they kiss, and they live happily ever after,"_ the by line is the only surprising part, the person I least expected to write . I shrug, and I walk through the doorway, everything starts as it said, until Frederick appears.

' _Robin he's here to deliver some bad news, so it would be beneficial to toss him your book, and wait for a response,'_ the voice suggests, so I quickly write a greeting, turn towards him and toss him the book.

He looks at me surprised, and falters when catching the book. His mouth moves as he writes, probably letting the others know what is happening, walks up to me, and hands me the book.

It reads, _"The Valmese have invaded Regna Ferox, we have to go send aid immediately, sorry to disturb your wedding, but we need a tactician. We are to leave immediately."_

I nod, handing the book off to Gaius, who shoos me away to go prepare. I give him a quick kiss, toss the bouquet to some arbitrary place off to the side, and pack for the worst. Inside my room inside my room, there is the smell of burnt paper and the husk of a book on top a glowing Fellblade.

' _Turned out near perfectly if I can say so myself, so take the blade, and let us get ready. Due note, that you are now a married woman, how does that make you feel?'_

I smile, hoping that is good enough of an answer, as I pack my few belongings, both of my coats, preferring the newer one as it has more space on the inside. I pack up my small collection of thunder magic tomes, my books of communication and the book about tactics. Wave this rOom goodbye, as it feels like the last time I'll be in here, and begin packing the convoy.

I walk into the main hall of Castle Ylisse, in hopes of finding Chrom to alert him of the filled convoy. I see him talking with Virion and a woman with dark pink hair that I don't recognize. He sees me and waves me over, either Chrom's hardly noticeable gesture, or the noise I am probably making alerts the other two people. The pink haired lady gives a small wave, and begins moving her mouth, Chrom and Virion cringing at the exchange. I give her a smile as Virion interrupts her, and the lady immediately losing her smile, and mouthing a few more words before slapping her own forehead. I chuckle, thinking this gesture will eventually become a trend.

' _Robin, this lady's name is Cherche, if I remember correctly. Grab your book and write something along the lines of, how were you supposed to know, and it happens all the time.'_

I grab out the book, writing before handing the book to her, _"Well Cherche, almost everyone I meet ends up making that same mistake, however there was one person that didn't but that's irrelevant. In other words, I've gotten used to it. But if I may ask, why are you here?"_

Cherche stares at the book for a moment, jaw hanging open. She shakes her head, and writes back, _"How did you know my name? Lord Virion hasn't even introduced me to Lord Chrom yet."_

I look up at her, her eyes show she is deeply fascinated in this oversight on my part. The voice decides to chime in, _'Dolt! I told you her name to stop you from thinking about her as "lady" because she is not of royalty! But you dug your grave, so try to dig yourself out of this one.'_

I roll my eyes, the voice treats me as its child. I quickly write back to Cherche, _"Well, during a 'Conversation' with Virion, he began writing your name, but scribbled it out, so I guessed a name, figuring I had to be right that some random person I might of not ever met had a name starting with Cher."_

' _Robin, she either will know you're lying, or she is just as stupid as you can be at times.'_

Cherche shrugs, writing back, _"Well, that sounds highly unlikely, but it wouldn't surprise me if Lord Virion revealed himself to be a duke to attract a woman, so, I'll believe you. As for why I'm here, I have information on the man invading Regna Ferox. He is a power hungry Emperor, who calls himself The Conqueror."_

I nod, and wait awkwardly as the conversation thins out far enough that Cherche and Virion leave, so I take this opportunity to inform Chrom of the ready convoy and troops. He simply writes back, _"Now, we are off to war."_

* * *

 **Author's Note: So sorry about the cliffhanger last chapter. I had written that and immediately thought, "This would be a perfect place to stop for now," so I did. I really hope that the events in the end of the last chapter didn't make people stop reading, I had just thought up of that idea for the failing experiment when a reviewer had suggested Robin being able to use magic to hear during battle. I had decided that, well, they will try, as Chrom, Frederick and/or Miriel will find all the problems of a deaf tactician, so they'll try to come up with this way of rendering that problem into nothing at all. As for the idea about Ignis. That skill gives half magic towards physical attacks, and half strength towards magic attacks, so I thought since this Robin tends to use a sword more than magic, why not write a way to still have a few skills like that, and still have the logic behind it. Also, for whatever reason, I feel the need to explain why Robin ended up with Gaius, so if you don't really care, skip until it's the goodbye. First of all, if no one had suggested a pairing, she would've ended up with Kellam, but that idea,** _ **went up in flames,**_ **because people suggested other pairings and I didn't want Robin to be forced into a relationship with some other person, when Kellam was still alive because, well, Robin was the only one that acknowledged Kellam, and probably would've felt betrayed if Robin ended up with someone else. Therefore, Kellam died. Now the suggested people for Robin to end up with were, Lon'qu, Chrom, Gaius, Sully and Virion. I stated earlier that Chrom's pairing had already been decided, so he was crossed out. She didn't end up with Lon'qu because she has to get close to someone to communicate, as well as getting a relationship with them. Plus the Book of Communication was destroyed, so what would they have been able to bond about? Sully got crossed off the list because I plan on having Morgan play an important part of the story later on, so Robin needed to be married with a kid, I do know adoption exists, but it wouldn't have worked in my story if robin adopted. Lastly, Robin didn't end up with Virion because the game they had been playing was made of wood, in the convoy when it went up in flames, so their bonding medium was gone as was the book, so what point would they have in hanging out anymore? So, in the end, Robin ended up with Gaius because he knew Plegian customs, so he could get rid of Tharja, he had candy to give her, which really was never for blackmail, so it just seemed like I could make a cute pairing out of the two. Anyways, if you have any questions, comments and/or concerns, don't be afraid to write a review or PM me, I promise you, I don't bite often, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Anywho, good morning, afternoon, evening, night, or whatever time it happens to be for you at the moment.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	16. Chapter 16

Battling the Valmese on the dock is taxing to say the least. Each one of their troops easily fends off several Feroxi troops before a member of the Shepherds comes along and kills them. Even with that, we sustain several major injuries. Sumia's pegasus lies dead in the water, Sumia herself barely out of the frigid water before she falls unconscious. Almost everyone else is either bleeding or recently healed.

 _'Well Robin, what did we learn from that fiasco?'_ The voice asks calmly, countering my own distressed mood.

Not to underestimate the opponent. I stand, stewing in thought, trying to figure out what had gone wrong, coming up with nothing. I see Chrom talking with Basillo, so I walk I over to the convoy, sit on the back and read until their conversation is done. I pull out my tactics book,

 _"A very important skill every great tactician needs to learn is manipulation. This is so the tactician themself does not fight enemies that would've fought for them if persuaded, and so the tactician realizes when they are being manipulated to prevent the other person from using the tactician for their own uses. So, first, figure out what type of person that you are manipulating is like, and what they want in the world. Second, begin giving suggestions for them to do, but don't try to have them do things that they normally wouldn't want to do, yet. Third, offer them advice that will help them, as well as fulfill what you need of them. Fourth, once the manipulated trusts you, start giving suggestions that only benefit you, as they will still believe that it will benefit them. Fifth, continue step two, three and four until they become your pawn. Once the manipulator becomes skilled enough, they will even be able to manipulate those that are not easily swindled, such as thieves or priests. One needs to be careful around both the noble class and thieves, as they tend to be able to manipulate others, even when it doesn't seem like it."_

The last part stops me. Have I been being manipulated by Chrom, Lissa, Flavia or even Maribelle? I shrug, not really wanting to know the answer to that question as doubt and skepticism rises. I see Flavia approaching, so I close the book and put it away, grabbing out the Book of Communication, and toss it to her along with a pen.

She quickly gives it back, _"So, Chrom has reluctantly agreed to go to Plegia to ask for aid in the coming war with Valm. The oaf and I need to stay here to rebuild the surrounding towns as well as our army. As much as I would like to keep you here to help, I fear that Plegia may try to make a move against Ylisse, especially if we go over there. So, you are going to need to go with Chrom on this one. Just promise not to die."_

I chuckle, looking her in the eye and nodding.

The place we go is called Carrion Isle, well, that's what Chrom and Frederick insist the name is. Quite frankly, the drab atmosphere of the place will kill you faster than the smell, as I see Panne wrinkling her nose along with me. Guess that's where it gets its name, right? We're lead by a small group of Plegian dark soldiers. Dark mages, dark knights, and even dark pegasus knights. I see all of their knapsacks and saddlebags are filled to the brim with tomes of assorted types, so I make a mental note to not make these people angry. We come to a stop, and the one sorcerer in the small hand gestures to four locations, and mouths words that Chrom seems to understand. Soon, camp is set up inside those four points. The area is all inside of a canyon, several forts look hastily built, as it seems the Plegians expect us to attack while they're down. Frederick walks up to me and hands me a piece of paper.

 _"Tent Assignments. To prevent 'Shenanigans' during this war, these will be tent and any other living structure assignments until the end of the campaign. For the Men..."_ I skim, not really paying attention until I see my name, mostly everyone is getting their own, _"Robin will be with Tharja."_

 _'Not again,'_ The voice groans, catching me by surprize.

I grab out the Book of Communication, and write, _"Frederick, who decided the tent assignments?"_

He reads the question, and handing it back, _"Chrom."_

I nod in thanks, and wander around, hoping to find the blue haired lord. I find him setting up the Mess Tent, and hand him the book, asking, _"Why in Naga's good name did you have to assign me to a tent with my stalker? Why couldn't I have just had my own tent like I did before?"_

I glare at him as he reads. After a moment he hands the book back, _"Well, after seeing how you responded after you claim we lost someone named Kellam, that was his name right? Well, after that imaginary person's death, everyone noticed that you became distant. You may not have had your book to 'talk' to us, but I know your friends may have liked to see you around, maybe sitting with us during meals, but you stopped eating. It appeared you stopped sleeping. You often looked frustrated, as if you were talking or even arguing with someone. Long after everyone had given up trying to help you, which I highly doubt you even remember, Tharja was the one that ended up asking me to stay with you to make sure you didn't die on us. She did a good job, and no one wants that to happen again, so be mad if you want. Stalker or not, Tharja is staying with you."_

I groan in response, and Chrom just shrugs. I walk away, sulking and complaining internally. I eventually make it to the unlit fire, and sit on a conveniently placed rock, idly and mindlessly drawing in the dark dirt. I feel someone poke me in the shoulder, and before I look up, I see a massive drawing of a dragon with six eyes. I turn to see Gaius holding out a bag, presumably filled with candy, and a questioning look on his face. I take the bag and hand him my book. He flips through it, and eventually hands it back.

He wrote a single sentence, _"Blue has a point you know."_

I sigh, and nod, _'Robin, you have negotiations to make with the new ruler of Plegia. Chrom will be trying to find you any moment now.'_

I stand up, ruining my picture, and walk to the place we were initially lead to. A few moments after I get there, Chrom runs by, a confused look on his face, but shrugs it off. Minutes after that, I notice three people walking towards us. Two of them have white hair, the other has dark brown, almost mistakable for black hair. One of the two with white hair has a hood on a cloak very similar to the one I'm wearing now, their face indistinguishable from where I stand. The other one with white hair wears all black, with black feathers behind her neck. Out of the corner of my eye I see Frederick walk up next to Chrom.

The cloaked person stands in the back and talks with the one with black hair as the girl walks up and starts talking with Chrom. Realizing I hadn't already, I grab out my book, and stand there awkwardly as the one with dark hair walks up. He moves his mouth, gesturing to himself for a moment, and Chrom and Frederick follow suit. The dark haired man stands there for a moment, no one doing anything, before turning to Chrom, and mouthing something else. Chrom mouths something as he slaps his forehead, and the dark haired man gives a short wave, points at himself, pairs up the two fingers after his thumb, taps those together twice, and makes seven different symbols, the second and sixth being the same, with his hand. I give a huge smile, understanding those moments, "Hello, my name is Validar."

I mimic the initial movements, but instinct takes over, making more hand gestures than planned, "Hello, my name is Robin. May I ask the names of the people accompanying you?"

I see a small smile on Validar's face, and I see Chrom and Frederick looking lost and confused. The white haired girl that had been talking to Chrom before makes some gestures, "Well, my name is Aversa, and my sister over there is shy and is waiting to come over and introduce herself."

I nod, and I see Chrom and Frederick leaning over and speaking in each other's ears. I shrug it off, and Validar manages to get their attention. Aversa makes a few gestures, "800 Warships" and "200 transports, and funding for the entire war."

I choke on nothing, _'Yes Robin, they just said they would provide everything needed, no need to act so indecent.'_

I roll my eyes, Aversa sees this and gestures, "Why did you roll your eyes, do you not believe our offer?"

I shake my head, something coming over me to be honest, making me make more gestures I didn't know existed, "No, just this voice in my head treats me as a child and it was nagging me about choking in front of people as important as you and Validar."

Aversa looks shocked, as does Validar, and Aversa fetches the other person some distance behind them. She stands close to Validar, and gives the same small wave, "Hello."

I see Frederick say something and Validar mouths something back, and pulls back the hood of Aversa's sister.

It's me. Rather, a mirror image of me. White ponytails tied up in the back of her head, just like mine, same brown eyes. Same everything. We start gesturing at the same time, saying the same thing, "Hi, my name is Robin."

We both burst out in laughter, this must be some practical joke. I stop laughing and see Chrom looking confused and as if he had been betrayed. Frederick has the same confused expression as Chrom. I see Robin make some gestures aimed at Validar, "The heart is... waking, and the blood is strong, flowing through and through."

With that, Validar made some symbols with his hands that I didn't quite get, only seeing one, "Father," before being lead away by Chrom and Frederick.

I sit eating roll after buttery roll, occasionally taking a bite of some type of meat, while Frederick and Chrom sit across me, whispering to each other. I slide the Book of Communication across the table, but it lies untouched, as does their food. I make a move to stand up and leave, but they both motion me back down, so I sit down again. I sit staring at them, my supply of rolls now gone, and my desire to flee stronger than ever. I turn to see how dark it was, deeming it a good time to go to sleep, I fake a yawn, and stand up, only to be pointed back into my seat.

I look around, and see that the few people in here look scared, staring at me, and I see Chrom shooing someone away from the door behind me, and turn to see Gaius trying to walk in, but leaving. I grab the Book of Communication, and write, _"Why can't I leave?"_

Chrom reads it, looks at Frederick, and waits a moment before writing back, _"We have to ask you a few questions."_

I shrug, handing the book back without writing anything, _'Robin, it's an interrogation, just answer with what I suggest, and I'll get you out of here soon.'_

I give the slightest of nods, praying that no one notices. Chrom hands me the book, _"Do you know the names of those people we met today?"_

 _'Write yes, Validar, Aversa and Robin,'_ the voice instructs, and I listen.

 _"Did Validar look familiar?"_

 _'Write no, never seen him before.'_

 _"Odd, I remember him being the one that lead an assassination on Emmeryn back at the castle. You were the one that supposedly killed him. Now, do you remember him?"_

I shake my head as Frederick frowns.

 _"Well, he seemed to know you."_

I just shrug.

 _"Now onto something else, that weird hand movement thing you did. What is it, our guess is a form of language, but how do you know it?"_

 _"Well, same way I know how to write, I must've learned before I had lost my memories, this is basic knowledge. Seriously, if I hadn't known how to write, would we be having this conversation, I could've not remembered anything such as strategizing that has saved Ylisse countless times to this day, yet only now you question it. Either you feel as if I betrayed you by not informing you about this hand language I learned about today, or you seem mad about the skills I have, and you are merely using me as a tool to win your wars."_

Chrom reads the passage and looks shocked, and as if he had been slapped in the face. After the shock passes, he looks ashamed. I steal the book back, writing one thing, _"Thought so."_

I tear out that page, hand it to him, and leave before he can make his defence, as I couldn't care less.

* * *

 **Well, hope you enjoyed. I hope this ending doesn't count as a cliffhanger, but I apologize if it does. Sign Language made an appearance, I'm sorry that I didn't describe everything said, but I have a hard time describing the hand motions required, so I did my best on the first time, similar to how Robin in the games could've not known any (insert game version's language) but knew it after just a few words, because they just needed a little spark to have them remember. Anywho, if you have any questions comments and/or concerns, just write a review or PM me, and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. Well, have a good morning, day, afternoon, evening, night or whatever time it happens to be for you.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	17. Chapter 17

I take a few steps out of the Mess Tent before I collapse, red veins invading my vision, feeling as if an Arcfire had gone off inside of my head. Between the red and the pain, I see a faint shimmer of Validar, _'Why don't you go with him Robin? Your rightful place is by your father's side. Return to your real family, the one that you are bound by blood, not the one you remain loyal to despite them not giving you the same satisfaction.'_

I barely shake my head, I have some friends here, even a husband, even if some of the members don't see me as a person. The pain worsens for a moment then, it fades completely. I open my eyes to see Risen running towards the camp. I turn around and see Chrom looking at me, entirely confused, but I'll mess with that later. Instead, I write a strategy despite not actually wanting to.

We are in a canyon, a very noticeable rise on either side. I assign Chrom and Olivia together, knowing that she wouldn't want to have to worry. Honestly, I don't care what happens to Chrom or Frederick, but Olivia had seemed nice enough so, better not to burn that bridge quite yet. Sumia still hadn't gotten a mount yet, but she managed to find a massive suit of armor, similar to the one that Kellam had before he died, and I don't know where she managed to get it in the first place, but oh well. Sully and Frederick have the responsibility to take down the camp, and have everything ready for us to leave. Other than that, I don't really plan the rest of it, as all we have to do is protect ourselves until we can leave.

I grab Fellblade for the first time in an actual fight. The battle on the port I had used my Thoron because I needed the range. As I pull Fellblade out of the sheath, I see small arcs of lightning arc between the two, and I see Chrom with yet another shocked look on his face.

' _Is that his permanent expression now?'_

I laugh, finding that to be a completely reasonable assumption. Chrom's look of shock worsens, along with his sanity, when a massive flock of crows, or is that a fright, stay in a group, and stop in front of Chrom. He begins speaking to the crows, and I just shake my head, roll my eyes, and imagine I didn't see anything as I precede to cut down Risen.

Each slash with Fellblade leaves trails of electricity, each impact giving Risen the noticeable wounds from both the heavy sword, and the magic coursing through the blade. I laugh, enjoying the new power inside of Fellblade. One by one, Risen fall, turning to black smoke, and vanishing. By the time I have the Risen in the southern side of the camp gone, Chrom and Olivia have managed to make it onto a bridge, and the camp had been torn down and ready to leave. I see a blue dot run past Chrom, but a moment later they are leaving together.

' _Chase after them Robin, you may get some dirt on Chrom you can use against him later.'_ The voice suggests, so I listen, rage still fueling my motives.

I walk in on them next to a river, and I notice who the second person is, the girl who used to go by the name of Marth, Lucina. I grab the Book of Communication, and write a message to her, _"Hello Lucina, what has caused your sudden appearance. I thought you had left for good after the attempt on Emmeryn's life."_

I hand the book to Lucina, getting a strange look from Chrom, who I decide the worst I could do at the moment was to glare at. Lucina hands me the book again, _"I've been following and trailing the Shepherds since that day, staying out of sight, keeping tabs on everyone and their progress."_

I nod, before writing back, _"Tell your father that this is how I'll rumors are born, leaving with mysterious girls that seems awfully close to them. Being all secretive and all that."_

I see Lucina laugh, and say something to Chrom, who motions for the book. Lucina looks back at me, and I shake my head hoping she understands that I'm still not on speaking terms with him. She says something else to Chrom, who says something else. Lucina writes it down, _"He's ordering you to let him have the book."_

I shrug, wave goodbye to them, and leave, seeing Olivia crying behind me. I give her a slight shake of my head, but I don't think she saw, or could've known what it meant. I ignore this, and hope that Olivia screams at Chrom, that would be something I'd die to hear. I go back to where our camp had been torn down from. I see that white haired mage talking with Sumia, and everyone else seems to stay in pairs, walking about and talking. I see no sign of Gaius, and Tharja just follows me everywhere, so I pace around, absentmindedly. What feels like hours later, I see Chrom walking back with both Lucina and Olivia, Olivia smiling brighter than the sun. Seeing as we were all here now, I start walking off in the direction so we can leave, only to be redirected by Frederick. I decide to stop moving altogether, only to be lived by the knight, my feet dragging on the ground all the way over to Chrom.

I'm set on the ground gently, and I see Lucina terribly hide a laugh. I roll my eyes, and she makes hand gestures, making a terribly broken sentence, "You book hand me."

' _Where did she learn how to talk like that? Only your family knows, as do you, despite it remaining under the surface, below your memories.'_ The voice questions, rage in every word. I shrug in confusion at the voice, grabbing out the book.

I write a short question, before holding the book out in front of Lucina's face, _"Are you going to give the book to your father once I hand you the book?"_

Lucina shakes her head, smiling, so I let go of the book once she grabs hold. She then immediately hands the book to Olivia, who in turn hands it to Chrom. I growl at her, and she seems to laugh harder, and Olivia starts laughing while Chrom writes. He holds the book out in front of my face, so I can read.

" _Nod = Yes, Head Shake = No. Nod once you understand."_ I nod immediately, impatience growing along frustration with the fact he had to clarify what I had been doing since I met him.

He retreats the book to write more, _"Have you known about Lucina's identity from the night of Emmeryn's assassination attempt?"_

I nod, wanting to write more to explain a bit better. Chrom holds the book out again, _"Did you know she was my daughter?"_

I shake my head, giving Chrom a questioning look, _"Take the book for this one. How and why did you decide to name my baby, Lucina, and what I mean by that is, you knew about this Lucina, yet you named my kid the same, why?"_

I groan, Chrom's explanation was a better question to begin with. I take the book and write, _"Well, I had gotten this Lucina's name from her, but she completely covered our conversation in ink to prevent anyone else from reading it, I'm guessing she didn't tell you that. Anyways, I saw Baby Lucina, and noticed that both Lucina's had a very similar face, the same as when a baby has the same as their mother, but this was too similar, and I figured, no one will know that 'Marth's' real name was Lucina, and so I figured no harm was done."_

Once I stop writing, Chrom steals the book, and reads, monetarily glaring at Lucina for a moment before continuing. He stops and writes another thing, _"Okay, next question, did you make an Ignis out of Fellblade?"_

' _Robin, this is a trap. First of all, he knows you did, so you can't lie to him that you... We... Didn't, yet you can't say you did because then he will most likely be just as mad as you. So, choose carefully, either lie or not, I'm not part of this.'_

I sigh, thinking how to answer. If I lie, he'll know it, get mad, and ask the question again, but if I tell the truth, he'll get mad, but there is a possibility of forgiveness. So, after several moments, I slowly nod. The more I nod, the bigger Chrom's eyes seem to open, the more Olivia moves closer to hiding behind Chrom, and the more Lucina backs away.

It takes a while for Chrom to write again, both his hands seem to be shaking, so the handwriting is hard to read, _"You do know that is an illegal practice, throughout Ylisse and Regna Ferox, right."_

I immediately nod, not even knowing why I didn't just lie to him here. Chrom shows another page of the book, _"Will you hand over Fellblade?"_

I shake my head, I've grown attached to this sword. It cuts through armor with ease, and now shocks the victim inside the wound. I keep my left hand on the hilt, making sure no one takes it away. Chrom writes again, _"Take the book this time. How did you figure out about Ignis, and what possessed you to make one, and where did you make it?"_

I give a frown, and take the book, Frederick immediately takes the opportunity to take Fellblade, and hands it over to Chrom, so I growl and groan as I write, _"Give. Me. Back. Fellblade. Now."_

I hand the book to Lucina, as Chrom is holding Fellblade with both hands inspecting it. She reads moving her mouth before Chrom says something that Lucina writes. She hands the book back to me, _"Answer the question."_

I roll my eyes, the voice in my head says nothing, so I write, _"Well, I made it back in my room at the barracks, on the day that apparently became my wedding that I hadn't known was happening quite yet. I make one because it would give a tactical advantage if someone in the Shepherds had created one to use."_

I hand the book back to Lucina, who reads it off to Chrom. She holds the book out again, _"How did you figure out about Ignis?"_

I shrug, I'm certainly not letting them think I randomly came up with the idea, nor informing them of the voice, both seem like terrible ideas. Lucina stares back unconvinced, and says something to Chrom. I see Lucina draw a single line, underlining the previous question, so when she shows me, I shrug again.

I see frustration in both Lucina and Chrom's eyes, the same look. If one hadn't known they were father and daughter, they would easily be able to tell they were related. Lucina writes something else, hands me my book, and gets Fellblade from Chrom. I read, _"Robin, I'll give you Fellblade, if you answer this one question. Did you read about this in that book Mark wrote? I've read the book before, and I know it quite well, so I'll know if you're lying."_

I pocket the Book of Communication, look her in the eye, and shake my head. She tosses Fellblade slightly in the air while handing it to me, and the blade is covered in short arcs of electricity once it hits my hand, making Olivia jump back, and I sheathe Fellblade. I see Lucina lean over and whisper in Chrom's ear, and I turn around and leave.

On our way back to Port Ferox, we stop in every other village, Chrom often talking with the villagers, and after enough of them, we start walking off course and eventually we make it to a white temple, marked with that symbol on Chrom's arm. The place is infested with Risen, hordes of them outside of the palace itself. The battle ends and I manage to find Chrom, extremely confused of why we are here, and grab out the Book of Communication, and write, _"What are we doing here? Aren't we supposed to be heading to Port Ferox so we can disembark and head to Valm?"_

He takes the book, _"The Plegian Warships have to be taken to the port, and we had time to go investigate a rumor about Naga's Power being concealed here, so we decided to go explore and investigate."_

I read and wave goodbye and follow everyone else inside. Inside there are massive stone platforms that seem to float on water as clear as the sky outside. The platforms are connected by small pieces on the side, in a seemingly random formation across the temple. The only thing that ruins the vast beauty of the place are the walking corpses walking around, the occasional one flying on a dead wyvern. I see almost everyone else having a similar reaction around. Then a massive bolt of lightning across the temple grounds catches my eye. It covers an entire platform, sending it up to the top of the temple ceiling, with some noticeable black smoke being released once the bolt dissipates. I sheahe my word momentarily grabbing out my book and finding Sumia, who at some point on our way back to Port Ferox managed to get a black pegasus, I know not where.

" _Sumia, can you go over there where that big lightning bolt came from, it could be beneficial to see what was behind that. Take both Cherche, Cordelia and maybe even Nowi so you can attack from that side as well,"_ I hand the book to her, and she hands it back soon enough and she talks to the mentioned people in the book, and flies off with them in tow. Seeing as at the moment, there was only a single path to follow to get through here, I merely point at people, get their attention, and point down the one way.

There are a lot less Risen than originally thought, but a lot more scorch marks on the ground. Eventually, we meet up with the fliers again, but they have more people than anticipated. Two teenage kids with orange hair, very similar to Gaius's own hair, are being dragged by Nowi in her human form. A boy in my same tactician's cloak, the one when I had first met Chrom, and a girl with a cowl very, very similar to Gaius's own, although the rest of her apparel had no matching pieces. I see the boy touch his chin with his thumb, with all other fingers extended, and tackle me in a hug. I see the girl laugh, but the boy's gesture hit alongside his hug.

"Mom."

I hold my hands up, just as confused as everyone else, and the girl makes hand gestures, "Mom, sorry about Marc, he lost his memory before getting here, he didn't even remember me. Well, I'm your daughter Linfan, and this is your son, Marc. Sorry for the surprise, I didn't know I'd end up here. If Lucina hasn't told her father about future children, or if you don't even know who Lucina is, this may feel a bit awkward. Sorry in advance."

Marc finally lets go, making some more hand gestures, "The air must have been good for you here, you look ten, maybe twenty years younger now than I last saw you."

I pet his head and ruffle his hair, and he pulls out a piece of candy from somewhere inside his cloak, and pops it in his mouth happily.

* * *

 **Well, to me, the end was sappy sweet, but I hope you enjoyed. If you have any questions comments or concerns, write a review or leave a PM, and I'll get back to you. Well, I hope you have a good morning, day, afternoon, evening, night or whatever time it may be for you.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: It's been a while, hasn't it? I really do apologize for that. Just been... Busy. Anywho, the long awaited Chapter 18, which also happens to be one of the shorter chapters, allowing for more plot aiding factors and not nearly as much fighting as I would normally like. Meaning, there are no sword fights in this chapter. I hope you enjoy. If you see any errors, or have any questions, just ask. Enjoy.**

* * *

I sit on the edge of one of the ships we had been given from the Plegians, a salty mist is as constant as the shimmering blue of the ocean. Feet dangling, arms hugging one of the wooden railings, I stare out, not even seeing a cloud in the sky. I slowly eat a honey flavored sucker, when someone pokes me in the shoulder.

I turn to see Gaius, starting to sit down next to me, and I scoot a little closer to him. He smiles, matching my own, and several moments pass before I realize he probably needed something, so I pull out the Book of Communication and hand it over to him. He sets it down next to him for a minute before opening it up, _"Blue wants to apologize."_

" _I'm not going to see him."_

" _But read me out,"_ this is the point I want to interrupt but due to the medium of our conversations, I groan instead and continue reading, _"He really is sorry for the circumstances of your employment. It'd be better if he explained everything to you."_

I wrinkle my nose in disgust, but shrug, and write back, _"Fine, I'll talk to him, but I'm still not forgiving him."_

He shrugs, standing up and helping me to the same as he takes me below the deck to presumably where Chrom is.

' _Robin, leave now, just make up an excuse, like that you need to study more of Valm, or just more tactics. They'll believe you and you won't have to see Chrom. It's a win-win situation.'_ The voice begs, but I do my best to ignore it, because it's exactly what I want to do, but I walk alongside Gaius to the possibility of my doom.

I walk inside of the makeshift war tent, which is just a room on this massive ship, and see Chrom and Frederick talking with each other. I try to walk away, but I must make noise, so they turn to see me, and wave me over. I groan and walk over, making sure to hit my feet on the wood below as hard as I can to stomp across the room. Chrom rolls his eyes, and says a word to Frederick, who brings his forehead to an open palm and shakes his head. I pull out the chair closest to me, and drop, hoping to do some damage to the furniture that Chrom or the army would have to replace, and cross my arms and glare at the two of them.

Chrom visibly rolls his eyes, and sits in his own chair, as well as his glorified butler. He unrolls a cylinder of paper, grabs a quill and inkwell, a new thing for him, and writes a few short lines, _"Hold out your hand. Close your eyes, or else you'll be here all day and night."_

I wait. Staring directly into his eyes, shake my head, frown, growl, basically all signs of annoyance that I can possibly get away with without losing privileges. He just sits there, staring back, expression never changing.

' _One of you will break soon, and by the lack of maturity you are expressing, it'll probably be you, Robin. Either change something yourself or bow down to the victors.'_ The voice advises, but I sit there, take a few deep breaths, and stare back.

There is no window in the room to suggest time passage, nor are there candles, only small lanterns. I sit by and watch Lissa walk by, dropping off sea journeying rations for both Chrom and Frederick. They finish eating, Frederick cleans up their plates, and never reappears, leaving me and Chrom in the room. Alone.

' _Best to get out now Robin, this is how ill rumors are born, to quote you of course. Rumor has it that you two are an item, especially with how close you two seemed early on. Oblige, and leave as fast as possible.'_

I roll my eyes, open my hand hold it out, and see a small smile flash across Chrom's face before my eyes shut completely. Less than a moment later, something seemingly as cool as snow falls into my hand, a smell of smoke and burning flesh flies to my nose before the ice cold feeling is replaced with the feeling that Chrom had taken a candle's flame directly to my palm.

I feel myself scream in pain, opening my eyes, the same shocked look Chrom had been having the last few days, staring at my palm. Inside is a small blue stone, smooth, almost completely rounded in shape, rests in a crater of burned and scorched flesh. Attached to the stone is a thin chain, long enough to fit around a head. I shake the thing out of my hand, mentally kicking myself for offering my sword hand, which wouldn't be usable for a while.

Chrom looks up, looking as if he had kicked a child's dog, before scrambling to get a fresh section of paper and quill, but I flip the table with my good hand, inkwell splashing all over him, and storm out, slamming the door behind me.

' _Note to Self: Don't piss off Chrom, he will find a way to attack you with anything. Be ever more wary around him Robin, just think of what he'll do next.'_

I shake away that thought, stumbling around the lower deck of the ship trying to find a damn healer. Eventually, I find Maribelle, who wrinkles her nose at the sight of the wound, ushering me away to an empty room with staves all around. Maribelle uses several of the things, each one causing more pain to grow in the wound than the last. She shrugs, abandoning the attempt to use the holiness of healing magic and settles for traditional healing methods. Grabbing a blue vial, a length of pristine white bandages, she pours several drops of the blue elixir, slightly steaming with each drop, making the thing sting. Finally, she wraps the white bandage around the palm, as well as the wrist and lower part of the thumb, sewing it closed with white thread, preventing all movement with the hand.

She pats me on the shoulder, leaving me alone in the empty, seemingly silent room. The time to stay alone is nice, the voice deciding not to interrupt, as I sit on the wooden floor, behind barrels, blocking sight of my body from the still open door. I stare at my covered palm, watching the small droplets of blood manage to color the outside, only speckled, and sigh before dropping the now useless hand next to myself.

' _Look on the bright side, maybe this'll teach you to become a bit more mature, and not overreact to small situations. Chrom did this to you to teach you a lesson, maybe even Frederick devised it to make you go through the same vigorous training that you go through every few days with this injury. It was his idea to separate you from your kids for this trip, maybe he found it better to torture you here without them around. Unless that's a torture itself, but only you could tell me that.'_ I sigh. The voice is probably right. I stand up, walk out of the room, and find my way to my room, one I am forced to share with Tharja, and walk inside.

I see a plate of food next to my hammock, and I eat a few bites, deeming that I have no appetite, and lay down on the hammock. The burlap and rope contraption flips me over, slamming myself onto the ground. I wrap my coat around myself, and stare waiting for sleep to overpower pain of my still burning palm.

* * *

 **Well, this really is one of the shortest, but I hope it brought a little more to Robin, somewhat resolved and fueled the fight between Chrom and Robin, as well as making you a bit confused. As I could not find an in game description of the stone I described, I'll make a batch of Virtual Cookies for anyone that figures out what it is. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll try to get Chapter 19 out soon, but I'm not making a promise on time-frame. So, hope you enjoyed, and hope you have a good morning, day, afternoon, evening, night or whatever time it happens to be for you.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**


	19. Chapter 19

Starting from the moment we got off board the ships, we were fighting, except for me. My bandaged hand prevents me from wielding Fellblade, and any use of magic will either rip through the bandage, and conduct through my wound, hurting myself in the case of thunder magic, set my bandages on fire in the case of fire magic, or be a waste of a spell and energy in the case of wind magic. Deeming it unsafe for me out on the battlefield, Chrom enlists Marc as well as Linfan to strategize as well as act as battlefield commanders in my absence. Twice the amount of brainpower, twice the amount of tacticians, and twice the amount of books and writing. Both of my children got the short end of the stick on that one.

' _Don't view it as a bad thing Robin. Think of it as, they were both chosen to fulfill the role you failed to do in the other time, that is if you actually failed.'_

I shrug, sitting against a wall, waiting for someone, anyone to take me out of this stale aired room. I sit there and wonder what I had failed to do in the other time. I figure it has something to do with strategy, as it's the only thing that I've known this time around. Yet, nothing definite comes to mind. I a stand up and pace around the room, needing some form of stimulus to keep me from dying of boredom.

' _Robin, it's damn near impossible to actually die of boredom. You'll get your chance to fight again, fear not. I can guarantee that you will fight again soon.'_

Soon isn't now. I walk to the door, and awkwardly open the door, which opens to the right, with my left hand. I come face to face with a blue haired lord, and attempt to slam the door, only for it to be caught. The blue headed Prince stands there, book in hand, open for me to read.

" _Can I come in?"_

A simple question really. I look at his face, trying to figure out his motive, and what he could possibly gain by me letting him in.

He still looks upset, possibly more so than me, which in my mind is hard to believe. What could he possibly be upset about? That is unless either Lucina or Olivia died in the last battle, but then I'm left to wonder, why would he come to me?

Against my better judgement, as well as complaints from the voice telling me that he just wants to hurt me again, I move to the side, motioning with my bandaged hand to come on in.

He sits on Tharja's hammock, and I watch how he sits so I can mimic him with my own, I really hate the death traps that are supposed to be for sleeping, and plant both my feet down and sit on the swaying burlap.

Then Chrom just starts talking. I don't even know why but I just sit there and wait, not even trying to interrupt him, and I feign as if I'm listening. Even when it seems like he's rambling, I just sit, until he stops.

At this point, he just looks as if he wants to kick himself, mouth moving to say a single word, as he shuffles to find something, his book open.

' _Robin, everything he just said was a lie. It's a good thing that you didn't hear him, but just know, he doesn't even care your well being. He has two other tacticians alive that follow orders like dogs. He no longer needs the rebellious one to fill their role...'_

"Stop," I manage to say, the sad thing is, I have never actually heard myself say that word, but it silences the voice, and even Chrom freezes, blinking idly at me. He raises an eyebrow.

I toss him a pen, which he catches, with ease, nodding in thanks, before looking down to write. I wait, and watch as he finishes a page, and starts the next. I watch as his foot taps as he tries to find the right words, and it feels like the times when I was first his tactician, after the testing of course.

It takes a little bit, but soon he stands up, and hand the book to me, and I read, ignoring the complaints from the voice.

" _I met you as you were taking a nap in a field. I only woke you up to see if you had died or not, because apparently some wild boars were loose not too far from where you napped. I still wonder what would've happened if I left you there, would the boars attack, some other wild animal, or even a band of brigands to take you away to be their slave. Even though I lied to your face, pretending that only Frederick was being wary about your... Special case... I still trusted you. I orchestrated tests to see if you not hearing was a charade, and even more your inability to speak. I don't know how you saw those, but given your paranoid behaviors you have shown recently, I can't imagine you saw them well. I was surprised when you managed to piss off Stahl, but then I remembered that you took a punch from Vaike without even moving an inch. You were something special."_

I smiled, I find it funny that everyone still thought I took that punch, but I didn't.

" _Things only started getting bad after Emm died. I actually lost you there. That was when I realized that I lost my best friend. Rumors went around, ones that said that I was going to marry you and all that, which, could've happened. Up until that day, I had thought about it, even considered asking you to be my wife, but I didn't, because honestly, I thought you and Kellam were going to tie the knot. After that day though, you faded away it seems. Your personality changed to one that seems much darker. You left yourself alone, my only guess to sever the ties you had with everyone so what happened to Kellam didn't happen to anyone else. You tried not to get close to anyone else, and you stopped taking care of yourself, which shook my faith in you. If that was how you dealt with death, what would you do now if Marc or Linfan died?"_

I don't know. I could ask Chrom what he would do if Lucina died, but now doesn't seem like the time.

" _I asked Tharja to make sure you didn't kill yourself from your habits, which she was more than willing to oblige. The next battle you fought in, you seemed sloppy, gruesome, and brutal. Not the same Robin you were before. Even your strategies since the have been not as well thought out. More about the killing than a tactical advantage in location and terrain."_

Well, I see his point here, but they have worked without many flaws, right?

" _You treat us as paragons, and with the amount of protection a Manakete has, but what happens if the enemy has a metaphorical wyrmslayer? Would you leave us behind, only so you can forget us as well?"_

Oh...

" _Even when we were celebrating our victory against Gangrel, you sat mostly to yourself drinking milk, and not really enjoying yourself. I didn't mind at the time, you had changed since that day at the cliff. If you weren't deaf, I'd say that a dark voice has been whispering in your ear since then."_

He isn't far off on this note, honestly.

" _Flavia noted that even with your time with her, you didn't interact more than required, sticking to your room or training grounds alone. That was the biggest reason she sent you down to visit. She didn't want her little sister to be alone. It was after Mirel's attempt at science to let you hear that really did something. You spent months in bed, hardly moving. Miriel told me herself that the experiment should've killed you, deader than a doorknob at that moment."_

That is kinda what happens when someone uses metal rods to conduct electricity through your head, but you know, whatever works.

" _You held on, all attempts to use staves at that point seemed to cause more discomfort than normal. How in Naga's name you're here today, I have no idea. You are an enigma all of its own."_

You should see what happened yesterday.

" _When you got married, it was something that Tharja, Gaius and I all planned, trying to make sure that you enjoyed yourself. It seemed as if you didn't. Like it was just an obstacle you had to overcome, but seeing you as you are now, that kinda explains your marriage as well, one more box to tick."_

This was starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable, but I continue reading.

" _Then you had made an Ignis, who knows when, and you explicitly told me that you knew it was an illegal practice. You never told anyone how you made it, or even when, and Lucina said that the only other time she saw Fellblade was after it was given to Linfan, but more than that single rune decorated the blade. I was mad that you didn't tell me about both Lucina and Fellblade's Ignis, that I let my emotions prevent myself from telling you about Linfan. I didn't actually know that we would ever meet the other Future children. Lucina says there are fourteen, but they're scattered everywhere to the point where she even has her doubts at meeting all of them."_

At this point I don't want to continue, but I see Chrom sitting there, waiting on me to finish, as he looks as if he had more to say.

" _But it was at the Temple of Time that I found something. That small blue gemstone. After the battle, I sent it to be appraised to figure out exactly what stone it was. A Naga's Tear. The stone itself is said to be made of a solid form of Naga's magic, so I had it made into a necklace, hoping to give it to you as an apology for not trusting you in the beginning like I should've. It burnt you instead, and you got angry and flipped the table before I could apologize. I have held the stone myself in a bare hand, and I have received no such wound. Maribelle told me afterwards that you came to her, and her staves only made the wound worse. After she bandaged it up, she came to me to let me know what happened. This brought only one question to mind."_

I look up, seeing nobody here. Chrom had long left, the door had been closed. I took a deep breath, and read the last line.

" _Who are you?"_

I... Don't know.

The book falls to the floor, and I lean back, forgetting about the lack of a wall, and fall to the ground as well. That question being asked over and over.

The voice laughs, _'You tell me, who are you... Robin?'_

* * *

 **And I'm back. Sorry for the massive delay, and for these last few chapters for being a bit unorthodox compared to my earlier work. I reread this entire story, and because of how it was in the beginning, I've been half tempted to go back and rewrite it. If that is something that you guys would enjoy, let me know, and I'll try to work in. I really am sorry to all of you for the unorderly chapter updates, and I will try to get better about that. Until then, see ya later.**

 **Karii Lynne**


	20. End

I walk along the deck of the ship, trying to find a place on the ship to sit down to enjoy the ride back. Returning to Ylisse, we recruited several new Shepherds. More kids claiming to be related to other members of the current Shepherds, making fourteen in total including Marc, Linfan and Lucina. There is also Say'ri and who appears to be her master, or lady. One of the two. The lady in question walks up to me, and sits down, only two of the wooden posts away. I attempt to pay her no heed, a feeling in the back of my head that being near her is not a good idea. I never got her name, but the voice in my head warned me to stay away, and since it always seems to have my best interests at heart, I obey, as much as possible.

I feel a finger prod my shoulder, and I look over, seeing the green haired girl sitting there, pantomiming book. I roll my eyes, and slide the Book of Communication over, getting a grumbling from the voice, but I try to ignore it. She slides the book back.

" _Hello, we were never formally introduced. My name is Tiki, but you may know me as the Voice. I've learned quite a bit about you,"_ the script is one of the most interesting amongst the Shepherds, having an old flair with each letter.

Is she the voice? After all this time, I think I have found the body behind the voice, only a slight nagging feeling in the back.

" _So, you're really the Voice? After all this time?"_

I watch as Tiki laughs, before responding, _"So you had heard of me. Well, not heard, heard, but you know."_

I smile, asking a question that's been nagging me for a while, _"How do you do it?"_

" _Do what?"_

" _The talking, in my head."_

' _Idiot, Robin. Don't ask those types of questions. Idiot.'_ The voice inside my head replies, followed by a momentary headache. Once it passes, I see Tiki shaking her head looking confused. I pick up the book.

" _What voice in your head, care to explain?"_

What?

' _Don't you dare question her further Robin.'_

I ignore the voice, _"But, you said you are the voice, and there's a voice in my head, I thought it was you. Who is it then?"_

I watch as Tiki's features fall, and she squirms out of her spot, leaving a small note, _"Let me go get Lord Chrom. Stay here."_

' _See Robin, this is why I warned you not to say anything. Every one of the vile Naga-Spawn act the same, feeling it their duty to micro-manage everything, when in reality, everything is okay.'_

I only nod in response, and give a frown, before getting up, and heading back to my cabin. I open the door to see Frederick waiting there, a smug look on his face, and he mouths something, and waits. It's only a moment or so before Chrom and Tiki show up.

' _You're too predictable Robin. They knew you'd come back here.'_ The voice says, and I only give an eyeroll. The two watch me like hawks anyway, I wouldn't be able to hide very well anyway.

I sit carefully on my hammock, and after a while, hand the book over to Chrom. I wait as concerned eyes from Tiki mix with the ones of extreme fury from Frederick. The three talk amongst themselves, Chrom just holding the book, ready to write.

' _Robin, you're on your own for this one. I told you not to say anything, so anything you say truthfully is just self crimination. You dug yourself into this grave, so, now stay in it.'_

More arguing from the three, before Chrom hands over the book, _"Why the hell didn't you tell us about a voice in your head."_

I roll my eyes, _"I'm sorry, Mother. I didn't think it relevant to mention. You already own records of everything about me, I bet that you have things that are off the record, so why can't I?"_

' _Very mature Robin, nice job,'_ the voice is filled with sarcasm, but I leave my comment at that.

I watch as Chrom reads it aloud, seeing Tiki say something, a sympathetic look on her face, only to get yelled at by Frederick. It's amusing. Someone who has such a high respect for his lord, tosses aside someone of higher rank. I chuckle at the sight, getting a death glare from Frederick.

Eventually, Chrom writes something down, and hands me to book again, _"I'll only ask one question, you don't have to answer it, you are entitles to your own personal life afterall, but, for how long?"_

" _The beginning."_

' _She won't do it. You know she won't, just wait.'_ the voice says, Lucina standing opposite me, Falchion just inches away from my throat. My now healed hand holds Fellblade, the weight against the still tender skin of where my burn happened, and I await my incoming death.

Her blade wavers, as she mouths something, granting me the opportunity to send Falchion flying, and sheathe my own blade. She hurries over to catch her blade, and I see Chrom in the corner, frowning slightly, golden shield no longer on his arm, whether he is disappointed at Lucina or myself, I don't know. Probably both.

I watch as a glowing form talks with Chrom. They gesture towards me a few times, and i feel as if they are talking of something dark, something... important. I watch idly by, waiting for some form of anything to let me know what was going to happen. All I get are a single finger held up, telling me to wait a moment.

' _They're talking about how to kill me Robin. The one person that was ever honest with you. They want to kill me to preserve themselves, once and for all. What Naga is telling Chrom right now is probably about how she doesn't have the power to destroy me, only I have that power, which has been shared with you, which they don't know.'_

Why was this voice telling me this? What is it's real name?

' _I am you Robin, I am also Marc's and Linfan's parent, spouse of Gaius, and Grima. Basically, I am everything you have been, or ever will be. I only tell you, so you know you are safe, so you know what can bring yourself down, the only thing that can. Didn't you read that it is important to know your own weakness?'_

I nod, something that caught the eye of Naga, as she points at me a moment, Chrom saying something and she lowers her hand, frowning. I shrug, not actually caring what she thought of me.

' _She's not even a god. She only acts the part, but I'm not a god either, but I will be.'_

Hmm... I wonder what it is like to have that power, to act a god. I sweep the thought to the side when Chrom and Naga stop talking, and she disappears, and Chrom points in the direction we need to go.

' _This is only the beginning of the end.'_

I nod in response.

I stand on the back of Grima, my own back. Fellblade seeming to glow, more carnage the happier the blade seems to get. I'm step in front of everyone, the Risen still being an annoyance. I had promised to help Chrom stop Grima, and I'd prefer not to die, so, I give it my all.

' _Just stop it Robin, this is all pointless anyway. Just submit.'_

I shake my head. Grima had been the only one always looking out for me, but... All for the purpose of being a vessel.

' _I'm going to count to three. One.'_

It's a bluff, what will Grima do? I wait until the counting is over, turning behind me when I start to see my mistake. I see Chrom rushing over, Marc seems to be screaming, and Linfan is running over, being closely followed by Lucina. Black smoke spreads slowly, my legs refusing to move. I'm enclosed in the black smoke.

I sit on the ground, Grima speaking in my head constantly. I sit on the ground writing furiously. All to answer Chrom's question from the Valmese War. The moment I finish, I sign my name, the ink running out after writing the R, how poetic. The end of everything, even the life of this pen. I close the book, and take a few deep breaths, closing my eyes.

What do you have to show me?

' _I thought you'd never ask.'_

I open my eyes again to not actually be seeing through my own. Dead bodies of the Shepherds everywhere. Donnel has his own head on his lance, what appears to be Tharja burned to a crisp. Cherche looks as if she'd been eaten by her own Wyvern, and the ash haired Sumia is under her Pegasus.

Grima must've had fun.

' _Just wait for what I have planned for everyone else.'_

I frown at this. I wonder if I can leave this smoke ball called a trap.

" _Anything for you Robin. You just had to ask. There will be payment though, fear not, it's being paid for as I speak.'_

The smoke ball disperses, Marc standing just outside. He hugs my waist, not even a moment later, a bolt of black magic hits him in the head. I shake my head.

' _You have paid the price, have fun.'_

He falls to the ground. Linfan is nowhere in sight, but I place the Book of Communication with Marc, they'll find it with him when they take a death toll. I walk towards Grima, the massive body of the Fell Dragon. I see the bodies of what I would call friends on the ground, passing by both Gaius and Linfan.

' _Gaius was the first to go. I promised you that all that time ago. I just had to keep my promise. Linfan was never to have lived anyway.'_

I frown, tears forming in my eyes, running past the bodies, seeing that Chrom, Olivia as well as the rest of the Children fighting Grima. I grab my Thoron from my cloak, casting the spell, as the thunder javelin embeds itself in the dragon's body, I smile slightly. I can bring an end to this. I run up to Lucina, using her small amount of the hand movement language to get a point across.

"Tell Chrom, I'm sorry."

She nods, and says the message, just as an explosion of fire engulfs him and Olivia.

 _'And then there was one real threat left.'_

I smile, Lucina suddenly distraught at watching her father and mother die before her eyes. I smile because I can actually bring this thing down. I wave goodbye as Lucina falls to her knees, and run up to the Fell Dragon, and stab it with the broad point of Fellblade.

Immediately, I watch the dragon disintegrate, along side the sword and myself. It's not painful, just a strange feeling, my legs giving out first, dropping me to the ground, bit by bit, until the point where Grima is gone before myself.

"Thank you Robin," Naga's soft voice says.

The first and last thing I'll ever hear.

* * *

 **And that is the end. There is a short epilogue, immediately after this author's note, but other than that, this story is over. I'm sorry if you didn't like the ending, I had been planning this from day one, although the pacing is slightly different than planned, but I like it more this way. So, yeah, this is the end. I'll go back and edit this fic, and remove the author's notes, and leave it here. Well, have a good morning, day, afternoon, evening, night or whatever time it may be for you.**

 **Bye,**

 **Karii Lynne**

* * *

Brady stands over a bed with a sleeping person resting in. After deeming the person okay, he leaves, leaving the orange haired boy alone. After a while, he opens his eyes, looking frantically for something. He grabs a book from the nightstand, flipping to the end, reading a passage.

 _"Chrom, you asked me once who I was. The simple answer, I am Robin. I'm also an amnesiac, who woke up in a field of all places. A Tactician, who successfully led you through a War, and part of another. I am a mother to two, Marc and Linfan. I'm the wife to a Candy Thief. A Slayer of the Undead, killing countless Risen to protect others. I am the creator of an Ignis, a mute and a deaf lady. I was at a point your friend, but I'll never actually see you again. I am a loner from the beginning, and what I'd like to think of a good fighter. I am the Slayer of Grima, as well as Grima himself, an awkward position of being a female yet also a male, but that doesn't matter anymore. When this is over, I ask that you make sure that Gaius is actually there to keep care of Marc and Linfan, and if he didn't make it, look after them yourself, please._ _Tell them I love them, and that their mom misses them._ _And Chrom, I almost forgot, the most important thing. The most important thing I ever was, is being a Shepherd. R"_

The boy underlines the same sentence again as he had the day before, laying back down in bed.

 _'Marc.'_

Marc sits up again, looking around.

 _'It's me. Mom.'_


End file.
